/: 


THE    OLD   WORLD    IN    ITS 


NEW  FACE. 


IMPRESSIONS    OF    EUROPE    IN   #867-1868. 


BY 


HENRY  W.  BELLOWS. 


Vol.    I. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 

1868. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1868,  by 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


V5 


v./ 


These  Letters,  written  for  my  Parishioners,  are  affectionately 
inscribed  to  the  Members  of  the  First  Congregational  Church 
in  the  City  of  Neiv  York,  by  their  Friend  and  Minister, 

Henry  W.  Bellows. 


CONTENTS  TO  VOLUME  I. 


I. — On  the  Ocean.  page 

The  Steamship 13 

Madame  Ristori 15 

Seasickness 17 

Twenty  Clergymen,  but  no  Service       ...  19 

II. — First  Views  of  Paris. 

Hotel  Castile 21 

Boulevard  des  Italiens 23 

Inside  of  Paris 25 

Place  de  la  Concorde 27 

III. — The  Review  and  Exposition. 

Review  on  the  Longchamps 29 

Appearance  of  Troops 31 

Meeting  of  Monarchs 33 

The  Exposition 35 

IV. — Aspects  of  French  Life, 

Ball  at  Hotel  de  Ville '     .  39 

The  Crowned  Heads 41 

Religious  Spirit 43 

Social  Democracy .  45 

V. — Charity  and  Religion. 

The  Salpetriere 47 

Hospitals 49 

Common  Schools 51 

Education 53 

Religion 55 

The  Sanitary  Commission 59 

VI. — The  Mind  of  France. 

Laboulaye 61 

Prospects  of  France '63 

Louis  Napoleon 65 


6  Contents. 

VII. — Amsterdam.  page 

West  Kerk 67 

The  Dutch  Canals 69 

Holland 7^ 

VIII. — Prussia  and  the  Rhine. 

Prussia  and  France 73 

Frederick  William        . 75 

Intemperance 77 

Beauty  of  the  Rhine 79 

IX. — HoMBURG  and  Gaming. 

Mineral  Springs 81 

Accommodations 83 

Gaming 85 

Fascination  of  Gaming 87 

Cuisine 89 

X. — German  Life. 

Ignorance  of  Languages 91 

Tenure  of  Land '        •  93 

The  Villagers 95 

Extravagant  Tariff -97 

Rothschild 99 

XL — Religion  in  Germany. 

Religion loi 

Decay  of  Faith 103 

Rationalism 105 

Liberal  Christianity 107 

Devout  Women 109 

XII. — Nuremberg. 

Public  Works in 

Architecture 113 

Ancient  Buildings 115 

Religious  Indifference 117 

Works  of  Art 119 

Antique  Curiosities 121 

XIIL— Munich. 

Service  at  Notre  Dame 123 

Music  and  Beer .        .  125 

Palaces  of  Art 127 

Sculpture 129 

Kaulbach 131 

The  Young  King 133 


Contents.  7 

XIV. — Salzburg.  p^^^^ 

Impressions 135 

Perfect  Landscape 137 

The  Salt  Mines 139 

Odd  Locomotion 141 

Ebensee 143 

Innsbruck 145 


XV. — The  Tyrol  and  the  Alps. 

Valley  of  the  Inn 147 

Dogs  and  Shepherds          ......  149 

The  Tyrolese 151 

Among  the  Monks 153 

Up  to  Trafoi  on  Foot .        .  155 

First  Sight  of  Italy '      .  157 

Italian  Fun 159 

The  Gloomy  Walk 161 


XVI. — Switzerland. 

Baths  of  Pfaffers 163 

Lavater        .        .■• 165 

School  of  Arts 167 

Lucerne 169 

Tell  and  Schiller 171 

Ascent  of  Rigi 173 

A  Sunrise  Chorus 175 

The  English  Church 177 

A  Great  Organ 179 


XVII. — Switzerland. 

Road  to  Interlachen   , 181 

Swiss  Houses 183 

The  Jung-frau 185 

Tyrolese  Singing 187 

A  Fairy  Spectacle 189 

American  Friends 191 


XVIII. — Switzerland. 

Thun 193 

A  Great  Avalanche 195 

Ice  and  Music 197 

Diet  and  Disease .  199 

Great  Organ  and  Bridge 201 

Education  and  Thrift 203 


8  Contmts. 

XIX. — Berne.  Page 

The  Alps 205 

Arnold  of  Brescia 207 

New  Switzerland 209 

Government  of  Switzerland 211 

The  Swiss  People 213 

Revenue  from  Travelers 215 

Poverty  of  the  Swiss 217 

Sluggishness  of  the  People 219 


XX. — Savoy  and  Geneva. 

Service  in  English  Chapel 221 

The  Peace  Congress 223 

PosiTivisT  Reconstruction 225 

True  Peace  Policy 227 

Thoughts  of  Home 229 


XXI. — Chamouni. 

Approach  to  Mont  Blanc 231 

The  Guides 233 

Moonlight  on  the  Mountains        ....  235 

The  Glaciers 237 

Rainy  Days 239 

Born  with  Teeth 241 

Frozen  Storms 243 


XXII. — Valley  of  the  Rhone. 

Col  de  Balme 245 

Tide  of  Mist 247 

Fall  of  Folly 249 

An  Earthquake 251 

St.  Niklaus 253 

Hard  Usage 255 


XXIII. — Zermatt  and  Geneva. 

The  Matter-horn 257 

Mountain  Domes 259 

Climbing  Mountains 261 

The  Hall  of  the  Reformation        ....  263 

Religion  in  Geneva 265 

Liberalism  and  Orthodoxy 267 

Calvin  in  Geneva 269 

Cheneviere 271 


Contents.  g 

XXIV.— Geneva.  p^^^ 


Characteristics 


273 


William  Monod 275 

The  Heritage  of  the  Meek 277 

A  Greek  Church 279 

Infant  Communion 281 

A  Hard  Speech 283 

The  True  Gospel 285 

Troubles  of  Protestantism 287 

Portrait  of  Calvin 289 


XXV. — Geneva  and  Strasburg. 

Streets  and  Suburbs 291 

Art  in  Geneva 293 

Religious  Thought  in  Geneva 295 

Religion  in  Basle 297 

Fish  Culture 299 

Theology  in  Strasburg 301 

Growth  of  Liberal  Opinions 303 

The  Cathedral 305 

Cold  Weather 307 

XXVI. — Heidelberg. 

The  Churches          ....                ...  309 

Richard  Rothe 311 

German  Liberal  Christians 313 

Schenkel 315 

University  Professors   .        .        .        .        .        .        .317 

Cathedr.\l  at  Spires 319 

The  Harvest 321 


XXVIL— Hamburg. 

Princely  Manners 323 

The  Mighty  Dollar 325 

Churches  in  Hamburg 327 

Bridal  Crowns 329 

The  Rauhe-haus 331 

Joseph  Joachim 333 

New  Work  on  Language 335 


XXVIII.— Berlin. 

Frederick  the  Great 337 

The  Royal  Chapel 339 

The  King  and  Bismarck 341 

The  Royal  Family 343 

The  Two  Chambers 345 

A  2 


I  o  Contents. 

Page 

Rauch  the  Sculptor 347 

The  Jews 349 

German  History  of  America 351 

Tomb  of  Frederick 353 


XXIX. — Life  in  Prussia. 

Too  Much  Government 355 

Political  Situation 357 

Apartments 359 

The  University 361 

Dr.  Dorner .  363 

The  Church 365 

Church-Going 367 

The  Drama 369 


XXX. — Wittenberg  and  Halle. 

General  Appearance 371 

Luther  and  Melanchthon 373 

Halle 375 

Tholuck 377 

German  High  Churchism 379 

Inauguration  at  Leipsic 381 

The  Great  Fairs 383 

Homceopathy 385 


XXXI.— Dresden. 

The  King's  Position        .  387 

Operatic  Churches 389 

Master-pieces  of  Painters 391 

The  Flemish  School 393 

■  The  Madonna  Sixtus      .......  395 

Collection  of  Armor 397 

Simplicity  in  Living        .        .  ....  399 

Punctuality  and  Coolness 401 


XXXII. — Dresden  and  i  rague. 

China  Works  at  Meissen 403 

Dresden  China 405 

Magnificent  Trifles 407 

Prague  .        .    ^ 409 

Cathedral  and  Synagogue 411 

Poor  Emigrants  and  Royal  Refugees    .        .        .  413 

German  Cookery 415 

Railroad  Travel 417 


Contents. 


II 


XXXIIL— Vienna.  Page 

The  Old  Town 419 

The  Viennese  in  Public 421 

Aristocracy 423 

Popery  Rampant •  425 

Indifference  of  the  People 427 

Power  of  the  Theatre 429 

Saints  and  Beggars 431 

Charities 433 

Slaughter  Houses 435 

Hungary 437 

The  Royal  Family         ........  439 

XXXIV. — ^Vienna  and  Trieste. 

Antiquities  and  Tombs 441 

Costs  of  Building 443 

The  Under-world 445 

Marvellous  Spectacle 447 

All  Tongues  in  Trieste 449 

Tombs  and  Candles 45 1 

Miramar  and  Maximilian 453 


The  Old  World  in  its   New  Face. 


ON     THE     OCEAN. 


At  Sea,  Steamship  Ville  de  Paris, 
230  Miles  due  West  of  Brest, 
Monday,  May  27,  1867. 


'^INE  days  total  abstinence  from  the  pen  is  such  an  excep- 
tion in  my  paper-scratching  existence,  that  nothing  but 
severe  illness  on  land,  or  that  perpetual  sickness  called  "  the 
sea,"  could  account  for  it.  Yet  this  is  the  first  drop  of  ink  I 
have  shed  since  the  i8th  inst.,  when,  at  just  3  p.m.,  I  heard  the 
ship-gun  bid  our  adieus  to  friends  and  terra  firnia,  and  walked 
down  into  the  low  dining-saloon  of  this  capital  steamship  to 
look  at  the  lovely  basket  of  flowers,  arrayed  in  their  own 
beauty  and  innocency — chiefly  white  buds — which  my  Sun- 
day-school children  had  sent  to  speak  their  fragrant  and 
dewy  good-bye  to  their  minister.  "Nothing  to  do."  That 
is  the  miracle  that  astonishes  me,  as  I  walk  up  and  down  the 
deck  and  peer  into  the  various  cubby-holes  of  this  little  world. 
Ville  de  Paris !  Yes !  It  is  Paris  in  miniature  already  here  ! 
French  out  of  every  mouth,  French  hours,  French  dishes, 
French  "  gar^ons,"  French  taste,  furniture,  decorations,  every 
thing  except  a  French  bottom  and  engine,  which  happily  are 
Scotch,  from  the  Clyde. 

Our  travels^  in  foreign  countries  are  begun  from  the  start. 


14  TJic  Old  World  in  its  Ne%v  Face. 

and  when  the  first  morning  that  breaks  at  sea  is  Sunday,  and 
we  find  the  whole  day  as  secular  as  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  sorting  and  seating  the  passengers  make  it,  and  not 
one  sign  of  American  Sabbath-decorum  about  it,  we  feel  that 
we  have  indeed  been  turned  loose  into  another  world.  And 
what  a  world  it  is  !  In  this  narrow,  long,  and  slender  vessel, 
three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  and  not  more  than  forty-five 
wide,  smooth  as  a  snake,  and  with  a  sting  in  its  tail  from 
which  it  seems  fleeing  in  terror,  are  crowded  over  five  hun- 
dred souls — three  hundred  and  fourteen  passengers  and  over 
two  hundred  hands.  Although  French  largely  predominates, 
there  are  Spaniards  from  Mexico  and  Cuba  ;  Germans  from 
California  and  the  West ;  two  Catholic  bishops  and  thirteen 
priests  on  their  way  to  the  Convention  calle;^  at  Rome  for 
the  29th  June  ;  Jews  and  Infidels  ;  at  least  five-and-twenty 
passengers  from  the  Pacific  coast  who  lost  connection  at  the 
Isthmus  with  the  direct  line  via  the  West  Indies  to  Europe, 
and  were  forced  to  come  round  and  take  the  same  company's 
steamer  at  New  York.  We  have  perhaps  fifty  American  pas- 
sengers, most  of  whom  try  to  talk  a  little  French,  judging  by 
myself,  with  indifferent  success,  even  in  the  opinion  of  the 
waiters  paid  not  to  laugh  at  our  jargon.  It  is  a  most  orderly 
and  respectable  company  of  people ;  too  many  for  thorough 
sociableness,  and  on  too  short  a  voyage  to  develop  the  re- 
sources of  the  passengers.  Madame  Ristori  and  her  troupe 
excite  little  curiosity.  She  is  a  better  actress  than  sailor,  and 
lies  most  of  the  time  wrapped  up  in  furs  and  hood,  either  on 
deck  or  in  the  saloon,  resting  from  the  fatigues  of  her  eight 
months'  campaign  in  America.  A  most  motherly  head  of 
her  dramatic  family  she  seems  to  be.  They  flock  respect- 
fully but  dependently  about  her,  and  receive  her  counsel  or 
consolation  or  sympathy  as  that  of  a  supreme  authority.  She 
has  evidently  great  practical  judgment  and  force  of  character. 


On  the  Ocean.  15 

Not  a  bit  of  theatrical  nonsense  in  her  manners,  no  painful 
self-consciousness,  no  airs  of  importance,  no  attention  to 
pleasing  effects  !  She  is  simply  independent,  strong,  patient, 
and  commanding,  and  nobody  would  for  an  instant  imagine 
her  to  be  the  idol  of  a  flattering  public,  carrying  home  the 
gold  and  frankincense  of  her  triumphant  progress.  She  has 
made,  it  is  said,  two  hundred  and  four  thousand  dollars  by 
her  eight  months'  playing  in  America  for  herself  alone,  not  to 
speak  of  supporting  and  paying  her  large  company,  and  put- 
ting seventy-five  thousand  dollars  into  Mr.  Grau's  pocket. 
This  is  doubtless  more  than  any  dead  or  living  actress  or 
actor  ever  made  in  the  same  period  of  time  by  force  of  indi- 
vidual genius.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
Ristori  (who  must  feel  her  personal  charms  to  be  on  the 
wane)  returns  in  September  to  New  York  to  put  a  fresh 
sickle  into  this  golden  harvest.  So  swift  a  repetition  of  her 
performances  seems  to  me  a  doubtful  experiment  on  a  public 
ninety-nine  hundredths  of  whom  understand  not  a  word  she 
utters.  American  curiosity  has  been  satisfied ;  how  much 
interest  there  is  in  these  performances  beyond  that,  the  next 
season  will  test. 

Among  our  passengers  are  some  French  officers  returning 
from  Mexico.  One  of  them  has  spent  his  three  months'  leave 
in  a  rapid  tour  through  the  United  States,  and  pronounces 
the  liberal  opinion  that  fifty  years  will  make  America  the 
greatest  country  in  the  world. 

Our  voyage,  now  nine  days  long,  and  with  probably  only 
one  day  between  us  and  Brest,  has  been  monotonous  in  the 
extreme.  We  have  had  neither  calm  nor  storm  ;  neither  sum- 
mer nor  winter.  Are  not  all  seasons  much  alike  on  that 
great  leveler,  the  ocean?  Not  a  whale  has  spouted  for  the 
children's  amusement,  and  the  seldom  lacking  porpoises  have 
almost  withdrawn  their  gambols  from  our  track.     Icebergs 


1 6  The  Old  World  m  its  Nciv  Face. 

have  not  disputed  a  foot  of  the  way.  An  infrequent  sail  has 
called  every  body  to  the  deck,  and  the  only  excitement,  be- 
sides passing  the  steamship  Etna,  has  been  the  anxious  in- 
quiry by  signal  from  a  Prussian  vessel  returning  from  a  long 
cruise  whether  France  and  Prussia  had  declared  war.  The 
amine  of  the  Ville  de  Paris  is  excellent  enough  to  furnish  a 
pastime  of  several  hours  a  day  to  such  of  the  passengers  as 
have  succeeded  in  keeping  any  appetite  for  food.  But  a  large 
percentage  have,  from  the  very  start,  been  unable  to  appear 
at  table  except  in  the  calmest  weather,  which  has  not  been 
two  days  out  of  the  nine.  No  inconsiderable  number  of  both 
men  and  women  have  not  yet  left  their  berths.  The  crowded 
passenger-list  makes  a  double  service  of  meals  necessary,  and 
the  salon  is  never  accessible  except  early  in  the  morning  or 
late  in  the  evening,  as  a  withdrawing-room.  The  ladies'  cabin 
is  overflowed  when  a  dozen  women,  with  their  dozen  children, 
are  in  it,  and  a  darker  and  more  dismal  retreat  can  not  be 
conceived  of  The  smoking-room  is  small,  and  suits  only 
those  to  whom  tobacco  fumes  have  become  a  "  native  air." 
In  short  the  deck,  which  is  swept  by  cold  Marchy  winds,  or 
the  state-room,  which  is  steeped  in  the  inevitable  odors  of  the 
ship,  is  the  alternative  of  the  passengers,  when  not  at  their 
meals — the  cheerful  part  of  their  sea  life.  The  funnel  is  a 
great  resource,  standing  between  the  passengers  and  freezing. 
We  gather  round  it  and  sit  upon  its  hot  flange  until  we  can 
decide  whether  it  is  better  to  perish  with  heat  or  cold,  for  any 
intermediate  state  seems  denied  us.  The  calendar  says  it  is 
the  last  week  in  May  ;  our  blood  declares  it  to  be  November. 
It  is  probable  that  any  attempt  to  heat  the  cabin  would  be 
only  adding  to  our  misery ;  but  let  nobody  fail  to  provide 
every  kind  of  wrap  who  crosses  the  Atlantic  in  any  season. 
A  lazier  life  than  ours  is  inconceivable,  and  I  confess  to  a 
dull  enjoyment  of  this  enforced  idleness,  even  accompanied 


On  the  Ocean.  17 

by  a  general  good-for-nothingness  of  feeling.  The  absence 
of  all  care  and  all  necessity  for  exertion  of  will,  intellect, 
heart,  has  been  a  negative  pleasure. 

The  sea  appears  to  paralyze  the  conscience  for  at  least  ten 
days.  I  feel  no  reproach  in  an  idleness  which  on  shore  would 
drive  me  into  bitter  remorse.  Nonsense  or  listlessness  seem 
innocent  and  appropriate  occupations.  No  reading  is  too 
trashy  to  be  welcome.  Even  the  tawdry  melodramatic  rags 
of  Miss  Muhlbach's  historical  (?)  novels  (a  kind  of  red  and 
yellow  bull-fighting  interest  it  is)  are  supportable,  despite  the 
terrible  low  level  in  moral  tone,  or  artistic  merit,  in  those 
tricky,  popular,  but  short-lived  stories,  in  which  the  historic 
facts  are  exaggerated  and  the  fictitious  quality  is  spoiled  by 
an  undigested  and  unconscientious  habit  in  the  author.  I 
have  not  even  had  the  comfort  of  being  seasick.  I  have 
only  been  sick  of  the  sea.  Whether  my  poor  stomach  had 
not  spirit  enough  left  in  its  debilitated  state  for  an  insurrec- 
tion, or  whether  my  successive  voyages  have  conquered  the 
peculiar  sensibility  which  produces  nausea,  I  can  not  tell ; 
only  certain  it  is  that  with  my  whole  family  miserably  sick 
with  la  maladie  de  la  mer,  I  have  been  wholly  free  from  it  even 
in  the  most  agitated  conditions  of  the  ocean.  My  recollec- 
tions of  the  sufferings  of  that  horrible  seasickness  have  all 
been  revived  by  the  spectacle  around  me.  I  half  wonder  at 
the  courage  that  dares  invoke  that  awful  fiend,  after  repeated 
experiences  of  his  malignity.  Here  is  a  man  who  lies  help- 
less in  his  berth  from  American  pier  to. European  dock,  and 
who  has  done  it  now  for  the  twenty-fifth'time.  Here  is  a 
charming  lady,  with  three  lovely  boys,  who  can  not  keep  a 
mouthful  down,  and  her  nurse  is  sick,  and  her  lusty  baby 
cries  by  the  ship  bells  from  watch  to  watch.  No  wonder 
what  a  witty  wag  said  of  this  spasmodic  horror,  "  that  the  first 
day  he  feared  he  should  die^  and  the  second  he  feared  he 


1 8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

should  Jiot."  No  wonder  that  other  more  militant  sufferer 
wanted  to  live  only  to  thrash  the  unfeeling  rogue  who  wrote 
"  A  life  on  the  ocean  wave,  a  home  on  the  rolling  deep." 

Our  steamer  is  a  screw,  and  she  has  wriggled  us  into 
screws  too.  She  rolls  like  a  revolving  auger,  boring  an  end- 
less gimlet-hole  in  the  eastern  horizon.  What  keeps  her  this 
side  up,  when,  so  far  as  the  effect  on  the  feelings  are  con- 
cerned, she  might  as  well  turn  over  and  have  done  with  it,  is 
an  ever-returning  mystery.  Down,  down  she  goes,  as  if  with 
the  firmest  purpose  of  sinking  her  bulwarks  under  the  water ; 
and  just  as  you  are  reconciled  to  the  inevitable  destruction, 
up,  up  she  springs  as  lively  as  a  grasshopper,  to  courtesy  just 
as  provokingly  on  the  other  side.  Amid  this  "  roly-poly," 
"  gammon  and  spinach  "  have  a  poor  chance  with  most ;  but 
I  am  a  lucky  exception  for  this  once.  Our  ship  is  a  stanch 
vessel,  no  cracking  and  snapping  of  timbers  or  joints.  She 
glides  through  the  water  like  a  bird  through  the  air,  without 
jerk  and  without  pause,  and  her  rate  is  rarely  under  three 
hundred  miles  a  day.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  discussion  as 
to  the  water  merits  of  side-wheels  and  screws.  Doubtless, 
the  side-wheeler  is  steadier,  but  the  screw  is  safer  and  more 
economical,  and  will  finally  drive  the  side-wheels  off  the 
course.  As  to  the  question  whether  "pitching"  or  "rolling" 
is  the  less  miserable,  it  must  probably  be  settled  by  sa3'ing 
that  the  form  not  immediately  present  is  the  more  tolerable 
of  the  two.  The  Ville  de  Paris  would,  doubtless,  have  carried 
us  to  Brest  in  nine  days,  but  for  the  loss  of  part  of  one  of 
the  flanges  of  her  screw,  broken  upon  her  last  voyage.  The 
captain  reckoned  the  loss  in  speed  at  one  hour  per  day.  The 
French  government  exacts  two  hundred  francs  fine  for  every 
hour  over  ten  days  this  line  occupies  in  delivering  the  mail  at 
Brest,  but  allows  any  hours  gained  within  ten  days  by  the 
swifter  vessels,  to  be  credited  to  the  account  of  the  slower 


On  the  Ocemi.  19 

steamers  or  the  unfortunate  passages.  The  waiters  are  com- 
pelled to  report  all  the  buono  ma?io  given  them  by  the  pas- 
sengers to  the  owners,  who,  after  deducting  for  breakages 
through  carelessness  of  the  gar^ons,  divides  the  residue  among 
all  the  ship's  company.  The  steward  of  our  part  of  the  ship 
reported  having  paid  in  one  hundred  francs,  of  which  he  re- 
ceived only  six  and  a  half  back  ! 

We  are  now,  8  p.m.,  within  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
of  Brest,  and  are  meeting  numerous  sailing  vessels.  The 
passengers  are  full  of  pleasant  excitement  in  view  of  the  end 
of  the  voyage.  About  half  go  ashore  at  Brest  in  the  morn- 
ing. Their  trunks,  in  awful  array,  are  already  piled  on  the 
bow-deck.  The  Ristori  company,  it  is  said,  (twenty-eight  in 
number),  have  one  hundred  and  four  trunks,  many  of  gigantic 
size.  The  residue  of  us  keep  on  to  Havre.  The  passage  by 
rail  to  Paris,  by  Brest,  is  seventeen  hours,  and  our  friends  who 
leave  us  expect  to  reach  there  by  Wednesday  morning  at 
dawn.  We  hope  to  reach  Havre  about  that  time,  and  thence 
to  take  the  cars  for  Rouen,  about  two  hours'  ride,  and,  spend- 
ing one  day  there,  to  be  in  Paris  on  Thursday  morning.  We 
shall  all  go  to  bed  to-night  with  the  delicious  expectation  of 
opening  our  eyes  upon  a  green  coast  and  terra  firma  in  the 
morning.  Our  voyage  will  then  be  really  accomplished, 
although  seventeen  hours  of  coast-sail,  passing,  we  hope,  be- 
tween Guernsey  and  Jersey,  will  remain  to  be  done  to-morrow. 
Meanwhile,  let  us  thank  God  that  the  ocean  is  over-past  in 
safety  and  essential  comfort. 

Spite  of  twenty  clergymen  on  board,  there  has  been  no 
public  service  or  worship  on  the  ship,  although  two  Sundays 
have  passed.  The  maiority  are,  doubtless,  Catholics ;  and, 
though  invited  to  preach,  we  have  preferred  hearing  the  litany 
of  the  waves,  and  watching  the  altar-lamps  of  the  stars,  to 
leading  so  promiscuous  a  company  in  a  verbal  service  which 


20 


The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


could  be  intelligible  only  to  few,  and  grateful  to  a  still  small- 
er number.  It  is  very  different  with  our  Christian  brethren 
at  Boston  now,  and  I  have  talked  over  with  our  friend  Sta- 
ples, of  Milwaukee,  the  anniversary  week  that  begins  to-day 
there.     We  were  with  them  in  spirit. 


II. 


FIRST     VIEWS     OF     PARIS. 


Paris,  Sunday,  June  3,  1867. 
Grand  Hotel  de  Caslile, 

loi  Rue  Richelieu. 

"Y\/'E  arrived  in  Paris  from  Rouen  by  rail  on  Thursday,  5  p.m., 
May  30  ;  found  a  clerk  of  Bowles,  Drevet  &  Co.  waiting 
for  us,  and  were  soon  conveyed  to  our  lodgings,  on  the  third 
floor  of  an  old  palace  in  the  very  heart  of  Paris,  within  a 
Stone's  throw  of  all  its  busiest  and  most  brilliant  life.  Here 
we  have  an  establishment  complete  within  itself — drawing- 
room,  dining-room,  two  elegant  chambers,  and  three  or  four 
pretty  ones.  We  could  set  up  housekeeping  to-morrow  if 
we  liked.  Instead  of  that,  we  go  down  stairs  to  the  admira- 
ble restaurant  of  the  Hotel  Castile  and  take  our  meals  when 
it  is  convenient. 

Three  days,  during  which  we  have  not  thrown  off  our  sea- 
sickness, or  become  wonted  to  terra  firnia,  do  not  afford 
much  experience  of  French  life.  But  it  is  time  enough  to 
leave  a  general  impression,  which  may  only  lose  vividness  by 
familiarity.  The  general  aspect  of  an  external  civilization, 
splendid  and  finished  beyond  our  utmost  conceptions,  is  un- 
deniable. Paris,  over  whose  principal  streets  and  parks  we 
have  been  continually  wandering  since  we  arrived,  is  one 
great  spectacle  of  architectural  vastness,  splendor,  taste  and 
finish,  where  magnitude,  costliness,  arrangement,  and  effect 
combine  to  surprise  and  delight  the  eye.  The  city  is  laid 
out  with  scenic  art.  It  seems  the  work  of  one  mind,  in  which 
all  the  parts  are  subordinate  to  the  whole,  and  every  private 


2  2  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

interest  or  convenience  is  subservient  to  a  public  result. 
Whereas  in  England  or  America  you  feel  that  the  public  has 
what  is  left  after  private  interests  and  convenience  have  all 
been  satisfied,  you  feel  here  that  the  public  helps  itself  yf/-j-/ 
and  flings  the  crumbs  to  the  private  citizen.  Paris,  therefore, 
imperial  and  spectacular  as  it  is,  is  to  a  wonderful  extent 
cosmopolitan  and  universal,  and,  therefore,  spite  of  Em- 
peror and  police,  popular  and  democratic.  For  what  can  be 
so  enriching  and  satisfying  to  the  humble  and  poor  as  the 
feeling  that  while  they  have  little  or  no  private  property,  they 
are  actual  share-holders  in  immense  public  wealth  and  con- 
veniences and  splendor,  to  the  common  use  of  which  they  are 
freely  invited !  When  I  saw  a  poor  woman  sitting  on  the 
grass  in  the  Tuileries,  within  stone's  throw  of  the  palace,  with 
her  day's  work  of  sewing  lying  round  her,  and  her  baby  play- 
ing near,  apparently  in  full  enjoyment  of  the  public  protec- 
tion and  of  the  beauty  of  the  noble  garden,  I  understood  how 
despotism  might  be  rendered  very  tolerable  by  an  enlightened 
policy,  and  how  France  and  Paris  —  with  their  glory  and 
strength  and  beauty — stand  in  the  place  of  private  posses- 
sions to  millions  of  her  people.  They  walk  and  stroll  in  her 
boulevards  and  parks,  gratified  and  dazzled  with  the  variety 
and  elegance  and  charm  that  everywhere  greets  them,  with- 
out those  feelings  of  discontent  which  we  might  expect  from 
not  being  able  to  appropriate  more  to  strictly  private  use. 

Every  body  is  at  home  in  Paris,  in  one  sense,  and  in  an- 
other every  body  is  out  of  doors.  The  people  live  in  the 
streets  and  cafes.  The  sidewalks  are  thronged,  and  you 
would  think  the  whole  population  had  agreed  to  take  tea  or 
coffee,  wine  or  eau  de  vie  together  on  the  Boulevard  des 
Italiens  between  8  and  lo  p.m.  !  Such  a  perpetual  picnic  on 
pavements  was  never  seen.  ■  But  then  the  pavements  are  so 
broad  and  smooth,  and  the  streets  so  clean  and  free  from  dust. 


First  Views  of  Paris.  23 

that  it  is  almost  as  comfortable  as  and  far  more  lively  than  eat- 
ing and  drinking  at  home.     Homes  of  some  sort  these  well- 
dressed,  genteel  people  must  have ;  but  where  are  they  ?    All 
the  streets,  little  and  big,  seem  given  up  to  shops.     Private 
doors,  with  names  and  numbers,  are  not  seen.     No  porch  or 
portico  welcomes  you  to  Mr.  Smith's  or  Mr.  Jones's  resi- 
dence !     You  find  after  awhile  that  all  except  the  selectest 
few  live  in  apartments ;  three  or  four  rooms  on  a  floor — and 
that  you  approach  them  usually  through  a  court  opening  into 
an  interior  square,  from  which,  by  a  common  staircase,  you 
ascend  to  your  entresol,  your  first  story,  two  flights  up,  your 
second,  three,  and  so  on.     Paris  doesn't  mind  climbing,  and 
such  a  getting  up  stairs  was  never  anywhere  else  so  indispen- 
sable.    Broadway  has  hitherto  seemed  to  me  to  present  a 
tolerable  example  of  denseness  in  the  population  of  a  street ; 
but  almost  any  considerable  street  in  Paris  beats  it  outright. 
Could  you  have  seen  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens  yesterday, 
when  the  Emperor  of  Russia  entered  Paris,  you  would  have 
supposed    the  whole  world    paved  with  French  hats.     We 
looked  down  on  a  mile  of  solid  Frenchmen,  who  stood  wait- 
ing quietly  enough  the  coming  of  the  cortege  filling  the  mid- 
dle of  the  street,  and  seemingly  about  as  thick  as  they  could 
stand  ;  the  murmur  of  their  voices  was  positively  sublime,  a 
low  roar  as  of  Niagara  heard  at  a  short  distance.     Suddenly 
the  police  darted  at  this  crowd,  and  with  batons  swinging  like 
an  orchestra  leader's  at  the  final  score,  drove  them  back  on 
to  the  sidewalks,  while  a  company  of  horsemen  pressed  upon 
them  at  a  fast  trot,  and  then,  at  once  flashed  by  the  two  Em- 
perors in  a  close  state  carriage  (of  a  single  pair)  surrounded 
by  a  troop  of  silver  lancers,  and  followed  by  a  dozen  other 
gala  carriages  with  their  reception  suites,  and  some  plainer 
ones,  probably  containing  the  ministers  or  diplomatic  corps. 
It  passed  like  a  meteor,  only  a  few  seconds  in  view,  and  the 


24  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

crowd,  which  had  been  hours  assembling,  dispersed  in  a  few 
minutes  to  allow  the  usual  festive  air  of  the  street  to  resume 
its  sway.  The  wife  of  one  of  the  ministers  told  me  that  the 
newspapers  having  announced,  without  authority,  that  the 
diplomatic  corps  would  go  to  welcome  the  Russian  Emperor, 
Louis  Napoleon  had  ordered  them  out — most  reluctantly  to 
themselves — as  it  would  not  do  to  allow  any  public  announce- 
ment of  so  much  importance  to  seem  to  be  made  without 
imperial  authority.  Perhaps  the  papers  were  not  called  to 
serious  account  for  their  impertinence  ! 

The  crowd  of  carriages,  generally  shabby  voitures,  of  one 
horse,  with  a  leather-stove-pipe-hatted  driver,  is  inconceivable. 
We  saw  regular  horse-meat  butcher  shops  in  Rouen,  and 
doubtless  they  exist  in  Paris  ;  but  most  of  the  horses  we  have 
seren  would  hardly  serve  to  feed  the  crows.  A  more  forlorn 
set  of  skeletons  could  hardly  rise  from  a  battle-field  of  cavalry, 
to  greet  Napoleon's  spectral  review.  And  indeed,  these  poor 
Paris  cabs  appear  to  have  a  worse  than  dog's  life  of  it.  With 
ten  or  fifteen  thousand  of  them  in  the  service,  they  are  so 
cheap  (say  thirty  cents  for  a  drive  of  three  miles,  or  sixty 
cents  per  hour)  that  they  are  in  incessant  use  and  even  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  at  certain  hours  of  the  day.  Their  speed  is 
not  that  of  royalty,  which  it  seems  always  drives  furiously, 
and  increases  pace  according  to  rank.  The  Emperor  alone 
may  drive  six  horses.  The  private  equipages  on  the  Champs 
Elysees  and  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  are  many  of  them  ele- 
gant, and  some  very  sumptuous,  with  postillions  in  blue  or 
.red  silk  doublets,  and  parti-colored  leggings  ;  but  the  car- 
riages of  all  sorts  seemed  clumsy  compared  with  our  own. 
Amid  all  the  kaleidoscope  variety  and  confusion  and  noise 
of  Paris,  in  which  coachmen's  cries  of  "  a  la  has,"  or  out  of 
the  way,  and  a  furious  cracking  of  whips — in  the  air — for 
the  horses  seem  inaccessible  to  the  lash — and  notwithstand- 


First  Views  of  Paris.  25 

ing  the  vast  shifting  crowd — there  is  an  air  of  leisure  and 
festivity  which  makes  you  feel  as  if  the  real  Frenchman's 
business  was  enjoyment.  The  general  expression  of  counte- 
nance is  a  good-natured  raillery.  The  earnestness  and 
anxiety  of  the  American  face  is  totally  lacking.  A  kind  of 
refined  Celt — with  a  turned-up  nose,  irregular  features,  a  ban- 
tering look  and  a  carefully-disposed  dress  —  a  fancy  shirt- 
bosom  and  a  bright-colored  neck-tie,  light  gloves  and  nice 
boots  : — the  Frenchman  twirls  his  cane  as  the  Spanish  woman 
flutters  her  fan,  and  seems  at  perfect  ease,  and  with  unlimited 
time  at  his  disposal.  He  sits  down  to  his  eau-de-vie  and  his 
cup  of  coffee,  in  the  open  street,  as  if  he  never  intended 
to  get  up.  He  fumbles  his  Figaro,  or  evening  newspaper,  as 
if  all  that  concerned  him  in  the  world  were  in  his  grasp. 
Perhaps  his  wife  and  daughter  are  with  him,  as  easy  and 
contented  as  himself,  but  more  likely,  under  forty,  he  has  no 
such  encumbrances  (if  not  in  humble  life).  He  lights  like  a 
butterfly  in  the  sun,  and  is  quiet  and  comfortable.  He  came, 
you  know  as  little  whence  ;  he  goes,  you  know  as  little  whither. 
In  the  evening  you  will  find  him,  perhaps,  at  the  open-air  con- 
cert a  la  Musard,  where  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  best 
orchestral  performers  render  the  best  and  the  newest  music 
to  perfection,  and  where,  amid  the  mild  radiance  of  countless 
moons  of  gas,  and  in  the  shelter  of  beautiful  trees,  you  sit  with 
five  thousand  decorous  "  Farley-vous"  for  an  hour,  to  mingle 
music  and  tobacco-smoke,  eau-sucre,  or  something  stronger. 
A  little  later,  you  may  see  him  at  the  Jardin  Mabille  or  Des 
Fleurs,  where  the  demi-monde,  in  most  hypocritical  decorum, 
set  the  fashions  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  while  all  sorts  of 
strangers  and  natives  dance  in  a  somewhat  free  manner,  and 
foreign  virtue  and  piety  improve  their  opportunities  for  seeing 
how  gay  and  elegant  folly  can  be  made,  and  how  discreetly 
self-abandonment  can  carry  herself  before  company.      The 

B 


26  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

theatres  and  operas  will  probably  have  the  attention  of  a  few 
thousand  more ;  although  the  Frenchman  is  never  fully  at 
home  in  any  kind  of  house. 

The  streets  and  shops  are  a  perpetual  "  exposition,"  much 
more  attractive  and  seeable  than  any  set  exhibition  of  wares 
can  be.  You  pass  through  narrow  passages  (connecting 
streets  together  by  a  sort  of  inland  navigation)  which  glitter 
with  jewelry  and  small  wares,  and  in  which  even  vegetables 
and  meats  are  so  arranged  as  to  make  a  part  of  the  artistic 
display ;  for  in  France,  they  have  carried  the  art  of  exhibition 
to  perfection.  Every  grocer's,  fruiterer's,  dry-goods,  butcher's 
shop  is  a  study  of  neatness,  picturesque  display  and  appeal 
to  admiration.  The  windows  are  each  studies  done  in  some 
one  of  the  different  styles — now  with  fruits,  then  with  clothes  ; 
here  with  confectionery  and  there  with  jewelry ;  in  this  quarter 
with  shawls,  in  that  with  boots  and  shoes  ;  on  this  side  with 
bread  and  cakes,  on  the  other  with  bottles  and  glass-ware. 
The  gas  is  double  refined  and  in  double  quantity.  The  night 
is  as  light  as  the  day.  All  the  cabs  must  carry  lanterns  after 
dark,  and  this  gives  the  view  as  you  look  down,  say  from  the 
Arc  de  Triomphe  upon  the  Champs  Elysees,  a  look  as  if  the 
long  broad  road  were  buzzing  with  myriads  of  gigantic  glow- 
worms. 

But,  after  all,  there  is  a  cozy  inside  to  Paris  as  well  as  a 
brilliant  outside.  The  courts,  around  which  so  many  of  the 
larger  houses  are  built,  furnish  cool  and  quiet  retreats  from 
the  noise  and  rush  of  the  streets.  It  is  charming  to  experi- 
ence how  sudden  and  unexpected  the  change  is.  And  then, 
Paris  is  full  of  passages,  a  kind  of  covered  way,  which  we 
have  tried  to  imitate  in  a  few  American  cities  in  what  we  call 
arcades — but  which  here  furnish  in  bad  weather  admirable 
opportunities  for  shopping  in  all  its  varieties  and  within  the 
most  compendious  space. 


First  Views  of  Paris.  27 

Doubtless  there  is  the  same  kind  of  privacy  here,  to  those 
who  know  how  to  find  it,  that  we  enjoy  at  home,  only  it  is 
harder  to  understand.  Indeed,  strangers  must  live  a  long 
time  in  any  foreign  city  or  country,  to  begin  to  do  justice  to 
its  best  side.  I  feel  just  now,  in  spite  of  all  this  show  and 
splendor,  perfectly  satiated,  and  half-nauseated  with  Paris — 
simply  because  it  presents  to  me  so  exclusively  its  outside, 
its  nationality  and  worldliness.  I  feel  a  steady  tendency  to 
demoralization  in  its  atmosphere.  But  this  is  owing  to  igno- 
rance of  the  customs,  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the  lan- 
guage, and  the  complete  removal  of  customary  foundations 
and  points  of  departure.  Just  now,  the  quantity  of  things 
crying  to  be  seen  is  discouraging  and  overwhelming.  One 
feels  like  running  away  from  the  excess,  and  resisting  this 
exhaustion  of  the  powers  of  admiration.  But  it  will  not  do  to 
throw  away  such  costly  opportunities,  and  so  I  shall  hold  my 
reluctant  attention  to  the  grindstone  of  this  revolving  Paris, 
and  let  the  sparks  fly  as  they  will,  in  hopes  of  getting  some 
new  edge  from  the  painful  process. 

I  have  seen  the  magnificent  Place  de  la  Concorde  with 
its  glorious  fountains,  doubtless  the  finest  and  most  imposing 
square  in  the  world.  Every  guide-book  describes  it,  and  I 
will  not.  The  Bois  de  Boulogne  is  a  wonderful  piece  of  un- 
French  nature,  left  in  a  simplicity  truly  refreshing  after  all 
the  artificial  stateliness  that  leads  to  it.  It  is  said  to  contain 
two  thousand  acres,  and  ftirnishes  an  endless  drive,  which 
may  be  perpetually  varied. 

It  is  not  too  late  here  to  speak  of  the  beauty  of  the 
country  between  Havre  and  Rouen,  which  is  up  to  the  best 
English  cultivation,  and  possesses  a  natural  variety  of  surface 
not  easily  found  in  England.  It  is  as  if  some  of  the  more 
picturesque  counties  of  Massachusetts  had  received  the  last 
touch  of  the  most  exquisite  gardening.     After  the  sea,  this 


2  8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

sudden  introduction  to  summer  wealth  and  spring  freshness, 
with  all  the  finer  vegetables  —  tomatoes,  cauliflowers,  arti- 
chokes, peas  and  beans,  and  all. the  small  fruits  in  perfection, 
strawberries,  cherries  and  apricots — with  poplars  looking  for 
the  first  time  handsome  in  their  native  fields,  slender  and 
lady-like,  not  ragged  and  stiff— was  refreshing  beyond  de- 
scription. The  disgusting  nuisance  of  the  Custom  House, 
where  nothing  was  done  with  great  patience  and  thorough- 
ness, could  not  make  our  entrance  into  France,  by  the  pleas- 
ant gate  of  Havre,  any  thing  but  charming.  The  city  itself 
is  pretty  and  most  picturesque  in  its  surroundings.  Its 
docks  shame  our  piers,  and  the  shipping  moored  safely  al- 
most in  the  heart  of  the  town  gives  a  half- Venetian  air  to  the 
streets.  Rouen,  which  we  reached  the  noon  of  our  first  day 
ashore,  gave  us  a  day's  enjoyment  such  as  we  can  hardly  hope 
to  find  exceeded  by  any  later  day's  experience.  Apart  from 
its  sublime  Cathedral  and  equally  celebrated  Church  of  St. 
Ouen — by  many  authorities  deemed  the  best  extant  specimen 
of  pure  Gothic — Rouen  contains  such  relics  of  the  Middle 
Ages  in  its  domestic  and  street  architecture  and  in  its  usages, 
that  every  step  in  every  direction  was*a  surprise  and  a  grati- 
fication, a  lesson  and  a  delight.  We  fairly  reveled  in  its 
strangeness  and  quaintness  —  its  glorious  churches  and  its 
happy  and  prosperous  people.  But  more  than  enough  for 
the  present. 


III. 


THE     REVIEW     AND     EXPOSITION. 


Paris,  June  7,  1867. 

'VT'ESTERDAY  we  went  with  all  the  world  to  the  great 
review  on  the  Longchamps,  or  race-course,  in  the  Bois 
de  Boulogne.  This  magnificent  park  seems  large  enough  to 
rusticate  all  Paris  in.  Its  breadth  appears  equal  to  its  length, 
and  its  thorough  simplicity  and  naturalness,  its  amplitude  of 
open  space,  and  its  abundance  of  trees  and  shade,  fit  it  for 
public  displays  and  private  enjoyment. 

The  field  of  the  review  could  not  have  been  less  than  a 
plain  of  a  mile  square.  Around  the  square  were  gathered  the 
sight-seeing  Parisians  in  dense  masses.  Every  point  of  ad- 
vantage was  crowded  with  a  special  swarm  of  people.  The 
trees  were  hanging  v.'ith  human  fruit,  producing  the  oddest 
effect  in  the  distance.  On  one  side  of  a  small  portion  of  the 
square  (the  usual  stand  of  the  judges  and  favored  spectators 
at  the  races)  some  thousand  fortunate  persons  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  a  raised  seat,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
Empress  and  her  ladies,  and  in  direct  front  of  the  Emperor's 
position  as  he  reviewed  the  troops.  In  different  parts  of  the 
field  were  posted  what  seemed  about  forty  thousand  infantry, 
fifteen  thousand  cavalry,  and  five  thousand  artillerymen. 
There  may  not  have  been  as  many,  or  there  may  have  been 
more.  But  it  took  the  troops  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes 
(part  of  the  time  at  double-quick,  and  with  the  cavalry  on  the 
full  trot)  to  pass  the  point  we  occupied.     Promptly,  at  the 


30  The  Old  World  in  its  Nnv  Face. 

moment  announced,  the  Emperor's  cortege — all  mounted — 
appeared  at  the  most  distant  corner  of  the  field.  It  was 
welcomed  by  a  blast  of  trumpets,  which,  taken  up  by  a  hun- 
dred bands,  echoed  round  the  vast  plain.  The  three  mon- 
archs,  the  Emperor  of  the  French  on  the  right,  next  the  Em- 
peror of  Russia,  and  next  to  him  the  King  of  Prussia,  rode  in 
front,  followed  by  a  long  cortege  of  brilliantly-uniformed  offi- 
cers (perhaps  a  hundred),  their  respective  staffs,  and  other  dis- 
tinguished functionaries.  Gortschakof  and  Bismarck  were 
said  to  be  among  them.  A  special  troop  of  cavalry  (the  Em- 
peror's guard),  very  splendid  in  equipments,  followed  the  Im- 
perial train.  At  a  brisk  trot,  this  gold-and-silver-burnished 
company  rode  round  the  whole  field,  inspecting  the  general 
appearance  of  the  troops  at  rest.  They  were  greeted  with 
"Vive  I'Empereur"  in  moderate  transports.  Passing  near 
our  stand,  the  general  appearance  of  the  Emperors  was  dis- 
tinctly made  out  by  the  aid  of  a  good  opera-glass.  Louis  Na- 
poleon, who  rode  a  pretty  sorrel  horse,  had  on  a  blue  sash 
and  fewer  orders  than  his  companions.  Hfs  hair  was  lighter 
than  I  had  expected ;  his  face  is  heavy  and  cold,  without  a 
trace  of  the  beauty  of  his  family,  yet  not  without  the  mould 
of  his  house.  He  is  thick-set,  but  rides  well  and  bows  grace- 
fully. The  Emperor  of  Russia,  who  rode  a  black  horse  (his 
own,  brought  from  St.  Petersburg  for  the  occasion,  and  with- 
out that  square-cut  English  tail  which  is  now  adopted  in 
France),  is  tall,  only  fairly  good-looking,  with  dark  beard,  and 
without  any  of  the  commanding  air  of  his  father.  The  French 
Emperor  talked  much  with  the  Russian,  and  little,  seemingly, 
with  the  Prussian  monarch.  The  King  of  Prussia  has  little 
that  is  distinguished  in  his  appearance  at  a  distance,  but  is 
represented,  by  those  personally  acquainted  with  him,  as  fas- 
cinating in  his  manners ;  specially  to  ladies.  At  a  certain 
moment  the  monarchs  rode  out  of  the  field  into  the  enclosure 


The  Review  atid  Exposition.  31 

just  before  the  Empress's  stand,  and  made  their  salute  to  her 
and  her  court.  Then,  having  taken  their  post  perhaps  thirty 
rods  off,  fronting  the  stand  occupied  by  favored  spectators, 
the  troops  passed  before  them  in  review. 

First,  the  infantry,  in  battalions  of  about  five  hundred  men, 
sixty  men  in  line,  mostly  in  the  usual  red-breeched,  white 
gaitered,  low-capped  uniform  of  the  French  infantry,  but 
varied  by  regiments  in  blue  and  yellow,  by  zouaves  and  chas- 
seurs with  all  sorts  of  head-pieces,  and  in  all  colors,  and  all 
varieties  of  equipment.  They  marched  well.  Their  bands 
were  admirable.  The  drum-major  of  the  first  column  twirled 
his  staff  before  and  behind  his  head,  threw  it  twenty  feet  in 
the  air,  catching  it  as  it  fell,  and  went  through  a  quite  wonder- 
ful but  ridiculous  exhibition  of  his  skill,  which  was  greeted 
with  shouts  of  derisive  admiration.  The  successive  bands, 
as  they  approached  the  stand,  filed  out  of  the  procession  and 
played  for  the  troops  to  pass  the  imperial  review  under  the 
stimulus  and  correction  of  the  loudest  and  most  emphatic 
music.  Its  influence  on  the  marching  was  very  obvious,  for 
that  almost  instantly  degenerated  after  passing  the  imperial 
eye  and  getting  beyond  the  distinctest  sound  of  the  music. 
The  artillery  was  beautifully  displayed.  In  great  force,  drawn 
by  strong  and  admirably  trained  horses,  and  moving  with  the 
precision  of  infantry,  it  passed  by,  leaving  an  impression  of 
prodigious  power.  The  legs  of  the  horses  spouted  like  water 
broken  over  a  dam,  as  each  line  threw  itself  forward  in  perfect 
regularity,  while  their  even-clipped  tails  flowed  like  a  row  of 
fountains  behind.  The  cavalry  followed,  with  almost  equal 
effect,  but  it  was  not  until  they  formed  a  line  of  half  a  mile 
long  in  the  field,  and  advanced  by  line  at  full  gallop,  for  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  bringing  up  suddenly  in  unbroken  front 
within  a  few  rods  of  the  imperial  party,  that  the  most  majes- 
tic effect  was  produced.     The  approach  of  this  vast  body  of 


32  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

horse  presented  an  image  of  animal  irresistibleness  not  easily 
to  be  surpassed.  The  utter  wiping  out  of  the  imperial  com- 
pany seemed  involved  in  its  possible  advance  a  few  rods  far- 
ther— a  catastrophe  which  would  have  seriously  modified  the 
map  of  Europe  and  the  fortunes  of  humanity  ! 

After  the  review — which  finished  with  the  promptness 
with  which  it  began — the  royal  company  and  cortege  dis- 
mounted and  joined  the  Empress  and  her  party  within  the 
tribune  or  stand.  At  a  distance  of  perhaps  a  dozen  yards,  I 
saw  the  introductions  and  hand-shakings  of  monarchs  and 
queens  and  princesses  going  on.  The  Empress  was  marked 
by  a  dress  purely  white  with  a  green  parasol.  I  could  not 
see  the  expression  of  her  face.  Those  who  did  described  it 
as  worn  and  changed.  The  Imperial  Prince,  although  just 
recovering  from  an  abscess  (which,  it  is  said,  would  have  got 
well  in  a  short  time  if  he  had  not  been  treated  by  an  anxious 
court  physician  and  treated  as  heir  to  the  throne),  is  not,  I 
am  informed  on  excellent  authority,  of  an  invalid  constitution, 
but  on  the  contrary,  a  well-made,  firmly-knit  boy,  usually  en- 
joying excellent  health,  and  promising  to  perpetuate  his 
father's  line.  The  Prince  of  Prussia  was  pomted  out.  His 
wife,  Victoria,  eldest  daughter  of  the  English  Queen,  is  repre- 
sented as  a  woman  of  fine  intelligence,  humane  feeling,  and 
excellent  practical  wisdom.  She  led  the  Prussian  ladies  in 
the  benevolent  ministrations  of  the  late  war.  She  lately  spent 
an  hour  or  more  among  Dr.  Evans's  collections  of  sanitary 
memorials  and  illustrations  in  the  Exposition,  and  displayed  a 
most  lively  and  intelligent  interest  in  the  operation  of  the  San- 
itary Commission.  The  Emperor  and  Empress  have  sepa- 
rately visited  this  collection.  Just  over  the  way,  in  the  sani- 
tary collection  ot  other  nations  (under  the  auspices  of  the 
"  Comit'e  Internationale''^),  the  Empress  expressed  a  desire  to 
examine  the  contents  of  a  knapsack,  and  in  taking  out  the 


The  Reviezv  and  Exposition.  33 

articles  one  by  one,  finally  spilled  fi-om  a  tin  box  a  considera- 
ble quantity  of  matches,  which  she  at  once  began  to  pick  up, 
and  persisted  in  collecting  to  the  last  match,  with  all  the  hu- 
mility and  inherent  neatness  of  her  sex.  The  Emperor  in 
his  turn  applied  his  royal  thumb  and  finger  to  removing  a 
cigar  which  one  of  the  attendants  had  carelessly  left  burning: 
upon  some  part  of  the  material,  accompanying  the  act  with  a 
quizzical  look  and  word.  The  Emperor  has  the  credit  of 
combining  a  lively  interest  in  details  with  a  command  of 
general  principles.  He  is  said  to  be  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  expenses  of  his  privy  purse,  and  to  watch  it  with 
care.  He  mends  his  own  fire,  and  watches  his  own  ther- 
mometer, and  does  not  forget  the  advantages  of  his  early  ad- 
versities. 

This  peaceful  meeting  of  great  monarchs  in  Paris,  es- 
pecially of  those  either  lately  confronted  in  actual  war,  or  in 
the  imminent  danger  of  it,  is  regarded  with  profound  interest 
here,  in  its  bearings  on  the  future.  Perhaps  the  opportunities 
of  meeting  afforded  such  men  as  Gortschakof  and  Bismarck 
and  Raouher  are  even  more  significant  and  fruitful  than  those 
enjoyed  by  their  m.asters.  It  is  said  that  the  bases  of  many 
important  international  arrangements  have  been  agreed  upon. 
Happily  in  our  day,  wars  are  not  as  they  were  once,  the  ca- 
prices of  monarchs  and  ministers,  but  the  gravitations  and 
necessities  of  States ;  and  I  can  not  attribute,  therefore,  as 
much  importance  to  the  gatherings  of  kings  and  their  minis- 
ters, as  most  men.  These  gentlemen  may  hobnob  ever  so 
affectionately  to-day,  and  be  compelled  to  face  each  other  in 
angry  correspondence  or  in  arms  next  month,  if  the  interests 
or  sensibilities  of  their  respective  countries  are  threatened. 
Far  more  important  in  its  bearings  on  the  future  peace  of  the 
world  is  the  "  Universal  Exposition,"  gathering  together  in 
one  vast  museum,  not  only  samples  of  the  natural  products 

B  2 


34  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

and  industrial  and  artistic  fabrics  of  all  countries,  but  calling 
together  such  immense  popular  representations  of  all  the 
great  nationalities.  The  mutual  dependence  of  countries  on 
each  other,  the  grounds  of  mutual  respect,  and  the  infinitely 
suggestive  lessons  of  the  Exposition  will  do  much  to  educate 
the  public  opinion  of  the  world.  The  small  space  occupied 
by  weapons  of  war  in  the  collection,  compared  with  that  taken 
up  by  the  products  of  peace,  is  of  itself  instructive  ;  and  it  is 
noticeable  how  little  attention  is  paid  by  the  people  at  large 
to  any  thing  but  the  purely  industrial  display. 

Of  the  Exposition  itself,  I  suppose  by  this  time  the  pub- 
lic must  be  fully  informed,  so  far  as  definite  description  is 
concerned.  The  catalogue  itself  is  a  duodecimo  of  over  two 
thousand  finely-printed  pages.  The  area  covered  must  be  a 
half-mile  square.  Within  this  square,  filled  to  its  utmost  ca- 
pacity with  countless  edifices  outside  the  main  building,  to 
show  in  their  architecture  and  to  exhibit  in  their  contents  the 
characteristics  of  all  nations,  is  built  the  Palace  of  Industry, 
a  marvel  of  strength,  arrangement  and  adaptation.  Running 
round  an  open  garden,  beautifully  laid  out  in  flowers  and 
fountains,  circles  a  promenade  next  to  which  is  the  Museum 
of  the  History  of  Labor,  and  then  in  concentric  circles  ten  im- 
mense galleries  (on  one  level)  each  devoted  to  one  grand 
class  of  objects.  l^\i^  first  gallery  or  "circuit"  is  devoted  to 
a  most  extensive  display  of  the  works  of  art  of  all  nations. 
The  second  to  the  materials  of  the  liberal  arts — such  as  books 
and  paper,  materials  for  the  painter  and  designer,  instru- 
ments of  music,  medical  appliances,  every  thing  connected 
with  photography ;  mathematical  and  scientific  instruments, 
maps,  plans,  etc.  The  third  gallery  to  furniture,  and  all  ob- 
jects destined  for  dwellings — such  as  sideboards,  tables,  bed- 
steads, chairs,  billiard-tables,  carpets,  curtains,  glass  and 
china,  wall-paper,  cutlery,  bronzes,  and  tin  and  copper  ware, 


The  Exposition.  35 

clocks  and  watches,  lamps  and  chandeliers,  perfumery,  trink- 
ets, etc.  The  fourth  gallery  to  clothing  in  the  largest  sense, 
and  other  objects  carried  about  the  person — such  as  threads 
and  yarns  and  silk,  and  all  their  products,  shawls,  laces 
and  broideries,  bonnets  and  under-clothing,  corsets,  cravats, 
gloves ;  made-up  goods,  caps  and  wigs,  shoes  and  boots,  chil- 
dren's clothes  ;  jewelry  in  the  most  astonishing  splendor,  arms 
that  are  portable,  trunks,  valises,  travelers'  bags,  tents  and 
exploring  or  traveling  necessaries,  toys  and  games.  The 
Jifth  gallery  is  devoted  to  the  natural  and  manufactured  prod- 
ucts of  the  mine,  the  forest,  the  sea,  the  non-alimentary 
agricultural  products — fibres  and  textiles,  tobaccos,  tans  and 
tinctures,  oils,  rosin,  wax,  etc. ;  to  chemical  and  pharmaceutic 
products  —  acids  and  alkalis,  salts,  gutta  percha  and  India 
rubber,  mineral  waters,  medicines,  bleaching  processes,  dye- 
ing, stamping  and  transferring,  leather  and  furs.  The  sixth 
gallery  to  machines,  instruments,  tools  and  processes  connect- 
ed with  the  useful  arts,  mining  machinery,  and  methods  of 
working  metals ;  agricultural  tools  and  processes,  manures  and 
fertilizers  ;  woods  ;  weapons  or  instruments  used  in  hunting 
and  fishing ;  all  tools  used  in  drainage,  cheese  and  butter- 
making;  bread,  chocolate,  ices,  materials  of  chemical  art,  of 
pharmacy  and  tanning  ;  generators  of  steam,  stoves,  heaters, 
with  all  plans  for  rendering  them  safe;  forcing  pumps  and 
engines,  dredges  and  earth-excavators,  chimney  and  smoke- 
pipes  and  jacks ;  apparatus  for  fountains,  machines  and  ap- 
paratus for  general  mechanical  purposes — weighers  and  meas- 
urers, regulators  and  governors,  counters  and  registers,  lifters 
and  elevators,  hydraulic  machines,  mill-wheels,  motors  of 
air,  of  gas,  or  electro-magnetic  ;  balloons  ;  planing,  mortising, 
punching,  compressing  machines  ;  flax  and  cordage  and  their 
manufacture,  webs  of  weaving  and  spinning  ;  clothing  and  all 
processes  of  manufacturing  hats,  shoes  and  garments ;  furni- 


36  Tfte  Old  World  ifi  its  Neiv  Face. 

ture  and  its  manufacture  ;  paper,  paints  and  printing ;  car- 
riages of  all  descriptions ;  materials  connected  with  railways — 
rails  and  other  fixtures,  rolling-stock,  repairing-shops,  locomo- 
tives, cars,  plans  of  stations,  etc. ;  telegraphing  in  all  its  proc- 
esses ;  materials  and  processes  of  public  works  and  architect- 
ure— bridges,  aqueducts,  viaducts,  canals,  light-houses,  mon- 
uments, hotels,  workmen's  houses,  gas-pipes  and  water-pipes ; 
materials  used  in  navigation — models  of  ships  and  boats, 
docks  and  basins,  piers  and  dykes,  sails  and  signals,  buoys, 
submarine  machines,  diving-bells,  means  of  safety  in  case  of 
fire  and  shipwreck,  yachts.  The  seventh  circle  is  devoted 
to  foods  in  all  their  different  states  of  preparation,  cereals 
in  seeds  and  flowers,  grains  ground  and  otherwise,  farina- 
ceous preparations  from  potatoes,  rice,  beans,  tapioca,  sago, 
arrow-root,  macaroni  and  vermicelli ;  substitutes  for  bread ; 
nuts  and  extracts  of  meats  ;  bread  in  all  forms,  and  pastry ; 
spiced  and  easily-preserved  cakes  ;  fats  and  oils  ;  milk,  natural 
and  preserved ;  eggs,  flesh  and  fish  in  all  their  preserved 
forms  ;  vegetables  and  fruits,  condiments  and  stimulants, 
sugars  and  confectionery,  fermented  drinks,  alcoholic  and 
malt  liquors,  wines  and  beers.  The  eighth  circle  is  devoted 
to  living  products  and  specimens  of  agricultural  skill — farm- 
houses, barns  and  stables,  distilleries,  refineries ;  wine,  oil 
and  cider  presses  ;  living  animals — horses,  beeves,  sheep,  cam- 
els, mules,  pigs,  rabbits,  birds,  dogs  ;  useful  insects — bees  and 
silk-worms ;  fish,  aquaria  and  artificial  fish-producers.  The 
ninth  circle  is  devoted  to  horticulture — forcing-rooms,  hedges, 
watering-apparatus,  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs,  fruit-trees. 
The  tenth  circle  is  devoted  to  materials  and  methods  for 
ameliorating  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of  the  peojDle — 
plans  and  models  of  school-houses,  apparatus  and  element- 
ary methods,  maps  and  models,  libraries  and  school-books, 
almanacs,  time-tables,  aids  to  memory,  furniture,  clothing,  and 


The  Exposition.  37 

food  of  all  kinds,  distinguished  for  combined  cheapness  and 
utility;  specimens  of  the  popular  costumes  of  different 
countries,  with  a  view  to  exhibiting  which  is  best  adapted  to 
climate,  occupation,  and  is  most  in  harmony  with  national 
traditions  ;  specimens  of  dwellings  for  the  people,  both  cheap 
and  wholesome  and  convenient ;  products  of  all  kinds  manu- 
factured by  distinguished  workmen  at  any  trade.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  bring  this  long  and  dull  list  of  the  classification  of 
the  Exposition  before  the  reader,  if  only  by  its  weariness  to 
produce  something  of  the  effect  of  vastness  and  variety,  which 
in  a  thousand-fold  degree  is  produced  upon  its  beholder  by 
the  Exposifion  itself  "  The  Exposition  "  is  a  magnificent  suc- 
cess in  all  particulars.  What  the  early  critics  of  the  building 
or  the  arrangements  for  showing  the  treasures  in  it,  meant  by 
their  complaints  and  disparagements,  it  is  now  difficult  to 
conceive.  I  can  not  imagine  any  plan  better  adapted  to  its 
purpose,  nor  more  thoroughly  carried  out.  Instead  of  a  tem- 
porary edifice,  it  has  immense  strength ;  the  vast  and  beautiful 
supports  and  braces  of  iron,  and  its  complete  security,  give  it 
the  appearance  of  a  permanent  structure.  A  raised  prome- 
nade of  great  beauty  and  size  runs  about  midway  from  the 
centre  to  the  circumference  round  the  whole  interior,  giving 
a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole  display.  The  outer  circle  of 
the  main  building  is  devoted  to  the  restaurants  of  all  nations, 
where  every  people  may  find  their  national  dishes  served  by 
native  hands  in  the  costume  of  their  own  country.  The 
French,  however,  have  so  impressed  the  excellence  of  their 
cuisine  upon  all  travelers,  that  the  basis  of  all  cooking  is 
now  Gallic. 

Nobody  will  be  disposed  to  wonder  or  regret  that  France 
leads  the  world  in  an  Exposition  upon  her  own  soil  and  in 
her  own  capital.  In  London  or  New  York  it  would  be  dif- 
ferent.    The   astonishing  pains  all  the  great  nations  have 


38  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

taken  to  be  well  represented  must  be  most  gratifying  to  Louis 
Napoleon,  and  shows  a  truly  enlightened  sense  of  the  im- 
portance and  usefulness  of  the  occasion.  The  United  States 
is  not  discreditably  displayed.  A  fair  show  of  its  industry  is 
offered.  It  attracts  great  attention,  and  there  is  little  or 
nothing  in  it  which  is  not  of  practical  importance.  The  pri- 
vate enterprise  shown  in  erecting  costly  buildings  in  this  en- 
closure, shows  a  full  sense  of  the  value  of  advertisement.  It 
is  almost  inconceivable  that  these  temples  and  pagodas  and 
light-houses  and  stables  and  cottages  should  ever  be  pulled 
down  and  removed.  But  I  suppose  they  will  be.  For  here 
in  France  they  do  the  most  astonishing  things  in* the  way  of 
putting  up  and  pulling  down  things,  which  would  make  even 
American  enterprise  shudder  to  contemplate.  The  city  of 
Paris  has  just  expended  a  fabulous  sum  in  2.fite  for  the  Em- 
perors. Last  night  Louis  Napoleon  gave  in  the  Tuileries 
another,  which  can  not  have  cost  less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
million  of  dollars  —  in  the  illumination,  which  was  of  the 
brightness  of  day,  and  in  the  temporary  staircases  which 
united  the  front  of  the  palace  with  the  gardens,  and  in  the 
immense  floral  decorations.  Who  pays  for  these  extrava- 
gances .''  The  people,  in  the  end.  It  is  a  wonder  they  do  not 
see  it  more  clearly.  We  have  little  conception  in  America, 
with  all  our  alleged  excesses,  of  the  extravagance  in  the  aris- 
tocracies of  Europe. 


IV. 


ASPECTS    OF    FRENCH    LIFE. 


Paris,  June  8,  1867. 

T  AST  evening  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine  (the  Mayor  of  Paris) 
gave  a  great  ball  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  the  imperial 
guests.  The  splendid  palace  was  illuminated  outside  with 
gas,  which  is  now  so  arranged  along  the  chief  lines  of  all  the 
public  buildings  as  to  make  an  immense  and  universal  illu- 
mination very  easy,  however  expensive  it  may  be.  Inside, 
thousands  of  wax  candles  shed  a  full  mild  light  on  the  gilded 
and  curtained  walls  of  this  gorgeous  edifice.  About  six  thou- 
sand guests  were  present.  There  was  neither  announcement 
nor  introduction,  but  on  delivering  his  ticket  of  invitation,  the 
guest  was  passed  up  the  long  staircases,  by  lackeys  in  red 
plush  breeches  and  gold-laced  coats,  or  between  the  Em- 
peror's guards  with  muskets  in  their  rigid  hands,  looking  like 
lifeless  statues.  Arriving  at  the  top,  he  was  passed  from 
room  to  room  amid  flowers  and  fountains,  until  he  arrived  at 
the  chief  saloon.  Here  the  principal  ball-room  was  railed 
off  and  made  accessible  only  to  the  diplomatic  corps  or  other 
official  functionaries.  Raised  seats  surrounded  the  dancing 
floor,  and  from  an  outside  gallery  a  few  hundred  fortunate 
guests  could  look  down  upon  the  scene.  This  gallery  was 
itself  the  most  beautiful  part  of  the  scene.  Broad  and  col- 
onnaded, several  hundred  feet  long,  and  wide  enough  for  a 
large  promenade,  it  was  completely  covered  with  a  gilded, 
temporar}^  lattice-work  which  was  overrun,  ceiling  and  sides, 


40  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

by  a  delicate  vine  of  living  green,  converting  it  into  a  vast 
arbor  more  elegant  and  graceful  than  any  species  of  decora- 
tion I  had  ever  seen.  The  guests  were  all  in  knee-breeches 
or  tights,  with  silk  stockings,  and  more  than  half  in  uniform 
or  court  dresses.  A  kind  of  Quaker-cut  coat,  embroidered  in 
gold,  or  silver,  or  parti-colored  silks  and  satins,  with  lace 
cravats,  and  orders  of  all  devices  and  varieties,  formed  the 
ordinary  costume  ;  others  appeared  in  black,  with  the  inevita- 
ble breeches,  pumps  and  white  gloves.  The  ladies,  with  the 
exception  of  more  jewels,  were  not  dressed  otherwise  than  in 
our  own  American  ball-rooms;  they  were  more  plump  and 
large  than  our  women,  but  had  little  of  their  pure  and  bril- 
liant complexion  or  regularity  of  features.  They  looked, 
however,  in  better  health,  and  had  most  charming  manners. 
There  was  no  pushing  or  rudeness  in  the  vast  crowd,  and 
although  the  floor  showed  the  tags  of  torn  dresses  and  scraps 
of  muslin,  on  the  whole  the  ladies  carried  their  trains  through 
the  crowd  with  unexpected  safety  and  success.  At  \o\  p.m. 
a  blast  from  the  band,  breaking  into  the  Russian  Hymn,  an- 
nounced the  arrival  of  the  Emperors  and  their  suites.  The 
streets,  for-  a  mile  approaching  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  had  from 
an  early  hour  been  lined  with  people  to  watch  the  royal  car- 
riages, which  are  so  lighted  as  to  show  their  interior  and  pas- 
sengers. A  great  curiosity  to  get  a  view  of  the  guests  in- 
stantly sho*wed  itself,  and  was  restrained  only  by  general 
courtesy  from  becoming  a  rush.  I  could  not  push,  nor  did 
I  know  enough  of  the  premises  to  find  a  point  of  observation, 
and  it  was  at  least  two  hours  before  I  got  any  sight  of  the 
imperial  party.  There  could  not  have  been  more  than  two 
sets  of  dancers,  and  these  I  never  got  near  enough  to  see. 
At  about  \\\  P.M.  the  royal  company  made  a  tour  of  the 
rooms,  and  even  then  I  had  only  a  glimpse  of  their  heads. 
But    about   midnight,  by    a   lucky   chance,  I   found    myself 


The  Crowned  Heads.  41 

jammed  with  a  friend  into  a  narrow  passage,  through  which 
the  Emperor  passed,  and  in  spite  of  a  dozen  officials  with 
silver  chains  round  their  necks  who  tried  to  crowd  us  out  of 
the  way,  we  could  not  disappear,  there  being  no  place  to  dis- 
appear in,  and  accordingly  standing  stock-still  we  had  a  view 
almost  at  fingers'  ends  of  the  whole  brilliant  company.  First 
came  the  Emperor  of  Russia  with  the  Empress  Eugenie ;  he 
was  firm  and  sober,  looking  a  little  as  if  a  Polish  assassin 
might  be  lurking  even  in  that  guarded  company ;  she  gracious 
and  affable,  but  faded,  and  not  commanding  in  beauty  or 
bearing,  and  dressed  much  like  any  other  lady.  Then  came 
the  King  of  Prussia,  with  some  unknown  princess  ;  then  the 
Emperor  of  France,  with  the  Princess  Mathilde.  Louis  Na- 
poleon, born  1808,  has  a  poor  walk  and  an  uninteresting 
presence.  He  looks  care-worn  and  cold,  anxious  and  re- 
served. His  complexion  is  pallid  and  his  expression  depre- 
catory. His  hair  is  fast  turning  grey.  There  is  nothing  to 
excite  enthusiasm  in  his  look  or  manner.  In  private,  he  is 
reported  as  mild-spoken,  amiable,  and  of  quick  intelligence  ; 
but  his  face  is  both  impassive  and  unpromising.  All  the 
portraits  flatter  him.  The  Princess  of  Russia,  a  general  fa- 
vorite, followed.  Bismarck,  a  noble,  tall,  full-faced  man,  clad 
in  a  white  uniform,  with  an  air  of  power  and  victory,  was  in 
the  procession,  and  interested  me  more  than  any  body.  A 
poorer-looking  set  of  men,  generally  speaking,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  collect.  Many  were  very  short  and  crooked  ; 
many  insignificant  in  face  and  carriage,  and  their  elaborate 
dresses  only  added  to  their  indifferent  aspect.  The  value 
set  on  ribbons  and  orders,  on  titles  and  family  names,  is  past 
all  belief  to  an  American ;  and  the  intense  curiosity  to  see, 
and  the  deference  shown  to  these  crowned  heads,  by  their 
own  subjects,  is  wonderful,  to  use  no  other  adjective. 

Supper  was  served  through  the  evening  at  various  counters, 


42  Tlie  Old   World  in  its  New  Face. 

behind  which  stood  numerous  liveried  waiters.  It  was  ample 
and  dainty,  without  foolish  profusion.  Unintoxicating  drinks, 
and  ices,  and  sherbet,  with  punch  and  lemonade  and  no  wines, 
so  far  as  I  saw.  There  was  great  moderation  and  decorum 
shown  about  the  tables.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  general 
courtesy  marking  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  average-con- 
ditioned foreigners.  Americans  have  something  to  learn 
from  them  in  this  direction. 

Sunday,  June  9,  we  attended  military  mass  at  the  Hotel 
des  Invalides.  The  old  soldiers,  who  really  are  venerable 
and  decayed  in  appearance,  occupied  the  broad  aisle,  stand- 
ing with  their  lances  in  hand.  While  the  ordinary  mass  went 
on  at  the  altar,  a  band  of  music  played,  with  delicious  skill 
and  taste,  airs  and  marches  selected  from  the  operas,  adapting 
them  artfully,  if  such  a  thing  can  seem  possible,  to  the  solemn 
service.  The  incompatibility  is  so  complete  to  an  American 
Protestant,  that  it  was  bewildering  to  observe  no  sense  of  in- 
congruity in  the  minds  and  manners  of  the  Catholic  and 
French  congregations,  with  which  the  large  church  was  filled. 
Either  the  thing  done  is  so  sacred  that  no  associations  can 
desecrate  it,  and  music,  secular  or  sacred,  makes  no  differ- 
ence, or  else  custom  has  failed  to  create  the  sense  of  unfit- 
ness, in  their  minds,  in  which  we  have  been  educated.  The 
morals  and  the  religion  of  all  countries  must  be  studied  much 
more  independently  of  each  other  than  has  hitherto  been 
common.  It  is  not  safe  to  argue  from  one  to  the  other.  The 
duties  owed  to  God  of  worship  and  supplication,  do  not  ap- 
pear to  rest  on  any  moral  basis  among  Catholics  generally. 
They  are  of  the  nature  of  allegiance  to  the  rightful  sovereign 
— who  may  be  good  or  bad,  but  who,  nevertheless,  is  on  the 
throne,  and  whom  it  is  treason  not  to  serve.  Catholics,  there- 
fore, show  themselves  very  religious  so  far  as  punctilious  at- 
tention to  external  forms  is  concerned,  and  no  inference  can 


Religious  Spirit.  43 

be  drawn  from  this,  either  for  or  against  moral  character. 
The  immoral  may  be  just  as  punctilious  as  the  moral,  and 
certainly,  taking  a  whole  people  together,  Catholic  nations 
are  technically  more  religious  than  Protestant  ones.  The 
moral  quality  of  peoples  must  be  looked  for  in  other  direc- 
tions. It  depends  more  on  general  education,  domestic 
training,  and  the  self  respect  which  accompanies  the  posses- 
sion of  liberty  and  the  responsibilities  of  a  career.  There  are 
certain  excellent  moral  rules  and  customs  which  are  not 
moral  in  our  modern  sense  of  coming  from  the  conscience. 
They  are  like  the  honor  among  thieves,  which  is  so  reliable 
and  yet  so  purely  zwmoral  in  its  origin.  It  is  important  to 
recognize  the  advantages  of  those  prudential  and  social  vir- 
tues, which  are  the  products  of  experience  and  necessity,  but 
which  do  not  necessarily  imply  moral  life  or  moral  elevation. 
It  is  on  this  principle  alone  than  we  can  understand  the  con- 
ventional virtues  which  distinguish  French  society,  and  which 
flourish  independently  of  the  vices  which  equally  mark  it. 
In  respect  to  veracity  and  honesty  in  dealing,  a  great  depend- 
ence might  be  placed  on  those  who  would  think  very  little  of 
chastity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  grossly  unfair  to 
argue  either  irreligion  or  immorality  from  the  different  no- 
tions prevailing  in  France  and  Catholic  countries  generally 
in  respect  to  the  uses  of  Sunday,  or  the  commingling  of  holi- 
days and  holydays.  The  most  moral  and  religious  minds 
and  hearts  see  nothing,  feel  nothing  incompatible  in  a  sacred 
service  in  the  morning,  and  a  ftte  in  the  afternoon,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  all  the  wisdom  on  this  subject  is  on  the 
Protestant  side.' 

Yesterday  afternoon,  for  instance,  from  ten  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand people  went  from  Paris  to  Versailles  (twelve  miles  out), 
men,  women  and  children,  to  pass  a  summer  half-day  in  the 
exquisite  walks  and  woods  of  that  paradise  of  fountains  and 


44  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

arbors,  and  vistas  and  statues,  and  allegory  and  history,  and 
romantic  associations.  A  more  refreshing,  innocent,  and 
decorous  relaxation  could  not  be  imagined.  Not  one  sign 
of  drunkenness,  not  one  act  of  indecorum,  marked  the  occa- 
sion. Very  little  eating  or  drinking,  even  of  the  most  harm- 
less kind,  prevailed.  Most  of  the  company  went  out  in 
second-class  cars,  with  return  tickets,  at  two  francs  a  head, 
and  no  doubt  it  was  to  most  a  novelty  which  they  perhaps 
allow  themselves  only  once  in  the  season.  The  vastness  of 
the  expense  involved  in  the  endless  multiplication  of  fount- 
ains— all  fed  with  water  pumped  into  vast  reservoirs  from 
the  Seine — is  almost  enough  to  supply  Paris  itself  with  water. 
Considered  purely  as  a  piece  of  monarchical  splendor  and 
self-indulgence,  the  scene  is  an  aggravating  example  of  the 
way  in  which  the  people  were  once  sacrificed  to  the  ambitious 
caprices  and  luxurious  whims  of  princes.  Happily,  what  for 
generations  was  confined  to  the  eyes  of  monarchs  and  courts, 
is  now  opened  freely  to  the  people  ;  and  it  is  the  peculiar 
and  auspicious  feature  of  the  government  of  Paris  and  France, 
since  Napoleon's  days,  that  the  national  accumulation  of  pict- 
ures and  statues  and  ground  is  put,  in  the  largest  way,  at 
the  service  of  the  public.  This,  indeed,  does  even  a  danger- 
ous amount  of  propitiation.  It  works  to  uphold,  by  the 
charms  of  a  life  of  so  many  festive  opportunities,  a  system  of 
government  essentially  repressive  and  tyrannical  over  thought 
and  speech.  Like  the  cathedrals  and  the  showy  ritual  which, 
as  the  common  property  of  the  people,  make  every  Catholic 
feel  as  if  his  own  personal  pride  was  involved  in  maintaining 
so  grand  a  display,  so  the  large  and  brilliant  out-door  life, 
passed  amid  objects  of  taste  and  beauty  and  splendor,  which 
belong  to  most  Europeans,  but  specially  to  Frenchmen  and 
Parisians,  reconciles  the  people  to  a  Parliament  in  which  no 
real  power  resides,  a  press  without  freedom,  little  home-life, 


Social  Democracy.  45 

and  a  general  reaction  on  the  principles  of  self-government 
which  were  making  progress  here  before  Paris  was  made  the 
spectacular  city  it  has  become.  Democratic,  France  doubt- 
less is,  in  its  tastes  and  customs  ;  but  its  democracy  is  social 
rather  than  political,  in  contradistinction  to  our  own  land, 
where  it  is  political  rather  than  social.  I  venture  to  say  that 
less  jealousy  exists  between  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  in 
France  than  in  America,  and  that  people  care  even  less  for 
the  status  of  those  they  associate  with.  They  ride  in  second- 
class  cars,  they  drive  in  shabby  hacks,  they  meet  freely  in 
public  places,  and  there  is  a  jovial  and  kindly  intercourse  be- 
tween them.  Moreover,  waiters,  drivers  and  common  folks 
are  intelligent  and  sharp-witted  within  their  own  sphere  of 
life.  The  French  head  is  characteristically  well-developed, 
and  the  face  expressive. 

It  is  surprising,  however,  how  little  interest  in  political  or 
other  general  news  the  people  seem  to  take.  The  newspa- 
pers are  very  poor  and  scanty  as  compared  with  ours.  The 
interest  in  universal  concerns  is  small.  America  is  of  much 
account  only  in  the  eye  of  far-looking  economists  and  states- 
men. Improved  as  our  reputation  is,  the  ignorance  about  us 
is  still  gross,  and  the  indifference  still  more  so.  They  know 
that  somehow  we  are  getting  away  millions  of  European  peo- 
ple, although  few  of  the  emigrants  are  French — who  have  no 
taste  and  little  skill  in  colonial  work  {witness  Algeria,  which 
it  takes  about  as  many  troops  to  keep  in  order  as  it  has  pop- 
ulation). They  know  we  are  growing  rich  and  powerful,  but 
they  have  no  notion  of  our  civilization,  or  superiority  in  sub- 
stantial respects.  They  have  no  conception  of  the  relative 
higher  kind  of  civilization,  greater  independence,  intelligence, 
earnestness  and  dignity  which  marks  our  whole  life.  An 
American  can  afford  to  smile  at  their  splendor  and  accumu- 
lated riches,  their  equipages  and  spectacles,  their  titles  and 


46  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

orders,  and  feel  that  the  real  progress  of  civilization  is  now 
going  on  upon  the  other  side  of  the  great  ocean. 

The  great  ball  at  the  Tuileries  on  Monday  last  is  said  to 
have  exceeded  even  that  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  in  costliness 
and  splendor.  The  illumination  in  the  garden  was  visible  at 
several  miles  distance.  Great  temporary  staircases  were 
made  from  the  drawing-rooms  direct  into  the  gardens,  and  the 
company  found  the  grounds  so  prepared  that  white  satin  slip- 
pers received  no  stain  from  walking  upon  them.  Baron 
Hausmann  is  the  conjuror  who  extemporizes  the  magnificent 
fetes  of  the  Emperor.  He  it  is  who  has  carried  out  his  will 
in  the  transformation  of  the  streets  of  Paris,  where  mighty 
masses  of  buildings  have  been  cut  through,  as  if  they  had 
been  made  of  cheese.  France,  so  far  as  its  exterior,  its  mon- 
uments, its  churches,  its  quays  and  its  roads  are  concerned, 
has  been  set  in  wondrous  order  by  Louis  Napoleon,  who  will 
be  long  remembered  as  the  Renovator  of  the  public  magnifi- 
cence of  Paris  and  all  the  other  chief  cities  of  the  Empire. 
This  is  the  age  of  improvements  in  France,  not  the  age  of  in- 
ventions. Indeed,  external  splendor  and  comfort,  order  and 
peace,  rule  far  more  than  ideas  in  this  great  country  at  this 
hour.     It  is  not  the  day  of  great  men,  or  of  noble  women. 


V. 


CHARITY     AND     RELIGION 


Paris,  June  21,  1867. 

'"PHE  public  institutions  of  charity  and  instruction  in  Paris 
are  on  a  scale  corresponding  with  the  grandeur  of  the 
public  works  in  general.  They  are  of  course  less  visited  and 
less  known  by  travelers,  who  are  apt  to  confine  themselves 
to  what  is  merely  pleasing  or  wholly  novel.  But  no  one  can 
obtain  any  proper  conception  of  the  largeness  and  splendor 
of  the  French  nation  and  government  who  does  not  acquaint 
himself  with  the  schools,  the  hospitals,  the  asylums — at  least 
to  a  sufficient  degree  to  understand  their  immense  scale,  and 
the  liberality  and  thoroughness  with  which  they  are  sustained 
and  administered.  The  most  I  have  been  able  to  do  in  this 
hurried  journey,  is  tu  visit  a  very  few,  selecting  those  most 
celebrated,  and  on  the  oldest  or  the  largest  foundations.  To 
begin  with  charities,  let  me  give  a  brief  account  of  the  "  Sal- 
petriere,"  a  sort  of  almshouse  and  hospital,  where,  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years,  succor  and  shelter,  food  and  medi- 
cine have  been  freely  furnished  to  aged  women,  beyond  the 
years  or  without  the  ability  to  support  themselves.  There 
are  here  within  the  city  boundaries  and  in  an  enclosure,  one 
side  of  which  is  a  mile  long,  forty-five  separate  buildings  de- 
voted to  this  purpose.  A  beautiful  park  and  flower-garden, 
a  large  church,  ample  and  cleanly  dormitories,  bakeries, 
kitchens,  a  washing  department,  wards  for  the  bedridden,  for 
the  insane,  for  the  incurable,  as  well  as  comfortable  accom- 


48  The  Old  World  m  its  New  Face. 

modations  for  merely  outworn  and  feeble  old  women,  present 
an  affecting  evidence  of  the  care  the  government  has  for  ut- 
terly helpless  and  superannuated  poverty  and  misfortune. 
Excellent  ventilation,  good  arrangements  for  heating,  various 
and  agreeable  food,  ample  space  for  exercise  and  relaxation 
in  the  open  air,  mark  the  establishment.  A  spirit  of  humani- 
ty, exemption  from  needless  discipline,  freedom  of  ingress 
and  egress,  with  due  attention  to  the  taste  for  what  is  beauti- 
ful, are  other  delightful  characteristics  of  this  vast  refuge  for 
infirmity.  The  only  punishment  for  disorderly  behavior  is 
expulsion  from  the  advantages  of  the  hospital,  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  period.  The  size  of  the  grounds  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  sixty  thousand  visitors  were  expected  to 
participate  in  the  Ftte  Dieu  (Corpus  Christi)  which  the  in- 
mates were  preparing,  by  the  erection  of  floral  altars,  to  cele- 
brate on  the  next  Sunday.  There  are  beds  for  six  thousand 
women  in  this  grand  hospital,  which  boasts  of  being  the 
largest  in  the  world. 

From  this  magnificent  infirmary,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
France,  I  went  to  one  of  the  newest,  founded  within  a  dozen 
years  by  the  Countess  of  Roy,  who  bequeathed  3,000,000 
francs  to  establish  a  model  hospital  for  the  acutely  ill,  called 
after  her  maiden  name  the  "  Bossoniere."  This  hospital, 
which  has  over  six  hundred  beds,  is  built  upon  the  most  ap- 
proved pavilion  model.  There  are  twelve  pavilions,  of  three 
stories  each,  and  in  each  story  beds  for  thirty-four  persons. 
The  wards  are  perfectly  distinct  and  widely  separated  ;  the 
grounds  spacious  and  beautiful.  The  administration  is  con- 
ducted in  the  corner  buildings  of  the  great  square  around 
which  the  hospital  is  erected.  The  wards  are  lofty,  ceiled 
with  a  hard,  painted  and  polished  substance  which  prevents 
the  absorption  of  malarious  moisture,  and  the  ventilation  is 
secured  by  suitable  entrances  for  pure  air,  and  exits  for  foul. 


Hospitals.  49 

The  windows  are  large  and  frequent.  The  beds  are  all  cur- 
tained with  white  dimity,  which  seems  a  strange  departure 
from  the  most  modern  lessons  of  hygiene,  but  they  are  clean 
and  often  changed.  The  lavatories  and  closets  are  excellent, 
sweet  and  convenient.  Each  bed  has  a  shelf  over  the  top 
and  within  reach  of  the  patient.  The  beds  of  wool,  packed 
over  once  a  year,  rest  upon  a  sacking  which  is  lifted  on  open 
springs  of  nearly  a  foot  in  height,  allowing  the  air  the  freest 
circulation  under  the  bedding.  A  room  for  the  preparation 
of  medicines  or  special  diet  is  connected  with  each  ward,  a 
very  unusual  and  admirable  addition.  In  this  hospital  the 
heating  is  all  done  by  hot  water.  Half  the  building  is  ven- 
tilated by  an  expensive  steam-apparatus,  which  sucks  the  air 
down  from  the  belfry  of  the  church,  where  it  is  pure  and  fresh, 
and  forces  it  up,  either  heated  or  not,  into  the  dormitories. 
The  apparatus  works  admirably,  and  is  a  perfect  success  as 
to  the  result  of  supplying  at  all  times  the  needed  amount  of 
fresh  air.  But  it  is  costly,  requires  much  steady  attention 
and  frequent  repairs,  and  it  is  feared  will  not  be  copied  on 
account  of  its  expensiveness.  The  other  half  of  the  hospital 
is  supplied  with  air  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  gravitation,  but 
with  great  attention  to  proper  openings  for  the  circulation. 
I  regretted  not  being  able  to  learn,  in  the  absence  of  the  head 
of  the  institution,  what  the  ratio  of  mortality  was  on  the  two 
sides  of  the  building,  where  these  two  methods  of  ventilation 
were  so  immediately  contrasted.  This  hospital  seemed  to  be 
in  the  hands  of  Sisters  of  Charity,  who  looked  well  fitted  to 
their  charge. 

My  next  call  was  in  a  distant  part  of  Paris,  at  the  Found- 
ling Hospital,  formerly  styled  the  Hospital  for  "  Enfants 
trouves,"  but  now  changed  to  "  Enfants  assistes."  For  many 
generations,  and  until  quite  recently,  any  infant,  the  child  of 
sin  or  shame,  of  misfortune  or  want,  could  be  left  at  the  turn- 

C 


50  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

stile  of  this  hospital,  without  questions  asked  or  identifica- 
tion. The  ring  of  the  bell  by  the  person  bringing  the  child, 
caused  the  attendant,  always  waiting  inside,  to  turn  the  softly- 
lined  box  outward,  to  receive  the  little  stranger,  who,  by  an- 
other turn,  was  brought  within  the  reach  of  a  warm  and 
abiding  protection.  This  refuge  for  the  fruits  of  shame  has 
fitly  enough  been  deemed  of  late  a  dangerous  encouragement 
to  sin ;  and  now  its  mother,  or  some  near  friend,  is  required 
to  present  every  child  brought  to  the  asylum,  and  to  furnish 
its  name  and  history.  Since  the  privilege  of  a  secret  asylum 
was  lost,  infanticide  is  said  to  have  increased  in  Paris,  where, 
however,  it  is  less  common  than  in  New  York,  if  some  recent 
statements  may  be  believed.  It  would,  of  course,  be  likely 
to  be  less  frequent  in  a  city  like  Paris,  where,  marriage  being 
difficult,  other  relations  between  the  sexes  are  common,  and 
accompanied  by  less  sense  of  shame  and  sin. 

Nothing  could  be  more  affecting  than  the  sight  of  the 
wards  of  this  asylum.  Long  rows  of  little  cribs  curtained 
with  white,  each  containing  a  sleeping  babe,  with  a  little 
medal  round  its  neck — its  sole  connection  with  the  home  it 
was  never  to  know  —  presented  a  picture  of  mingled  inno- 
cence and  sin,  of  helplessness  and  efficient  protection,  which 
could  not  be  thoughtfully  contemplated  without  contending 
emotions.  Two  "infants  of  days"  were  brought  in  while  I 
was  in  the  hospital.  They  were  carried  at  once  to  the  baby- 
ward,  and  the  name,  age,  and  other  required  facts  sewed  to 
the  child's  cap ;  a  medal  (the  duplicate  of  which  was  given 
to  the  parent)  was  tied  about  its  neck,  and  the  little  one,  duly 
washed  and  clothed,  was  put  to  the  breast  of  one  of  the  wet 
nurses,  and  then  laid  in  its  little  fairy-like  crib.  After  a  few 
weeks  these  children  are  sent  into  the  country  for  the  benefit 
of  pure  air.  I  could  not  find  out  how  the  country  home  was 
related  to  the  city  one  ;  whether  the  children  w^ere  scattered 


Common  Schools.  51 

among  families,  or  went  into  another  public  asylum.  But  it 
is  certain  that  the  children  are  subject  to  the  authority  of  the 
hospital  until  they  are  twenty-one.  They  are  bound  out  at 
proper  ages  to  trades,  and  disposed  of  in  many  careful  ways. 
There  were  children  here  of  all  ages,  from  a  month  old  to 
seventeen,  and  very  many  of  them  were  at  play  in  the  lovely 
garden.  There  has  been  in  all  the  public  institutions  I  have 
visited,  something  ?/;/ofificial  in  the  manner  of  the  keepers 
and  assistants  which,  considering  the  rigidity  of  method  that 
characterizes  the  whole  of  French  life,  is  a  remarkable  testi- 
mony to  the  essential  bonhommie  and  kindly  nature  of  the 
people.  Little  distinguished  for  depth  of  feeling,  they  are 
free  from  hardness,  ferocity,  and  vindictiveness,  and  their  al- 
most uniform  courtesy  of  manners  appears  even  among  the 
commonest  of  them,  and  throws  a  kindliness  over  the  police 
and  over  all  custodians  and  officials,  which  is  not  wanting 
even  in  almshouses  and  prisons.  The  thoroughness,  airiness, 
cleanliness,  and  spaciousness  of  the  Foundling  Hospital  re- 
peated the  surprise  which  every  fresh  visit  to  any  French 
public  institution  perpetually  provokes.  How  has  it  hap- 
pened, is  the  continual  question,  that,  in  an  old,  crowded 
country  like  this,  such  ample  room  has  been  secured  for  all 
public  purposes  ?  that  churches,  charities,  streets,  parks, 
schools,  are  never  crowded  into  corners,  or  jammed  in  be- 
tween incongruous  buildings  ?  In  the  newest  and  least 
crowded  of  countries — America — space,  either  because  it  is 
so  common,  or  because  its  charm  is  not  appreciated,  is  the 
last  thing  which  is  provided  for  about  public  buildings, 
churches,  schools  or  residences. 

Anxious  to  see  the  common  schools  of  Paris,  I  obtained, 
not  without  difficulty,  a  special  permit,  and  visited  one  boys' 
and  one  girls'  school.  The  boys'  school  contained  only  about 
60  children  from  6  to  14  years  of  age.     Two  Catholic  priests 


52  77/1?  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

had  it  in  charge.  It  was  in  two  rooms — with  a  large  open 
shed  attached,  where  nearly  half  the  boys  were  seated  in  the 
open  air,  learning  their  lessons  from  monitors — who  repeated, 
out  of  a  religious  book,  certain  sentences  wholly  beyond  any 
suggestion  of  meaning  to  children  of  such  tender  age,  but 
which  they  learned  by  rote.  In  the  older  class-room,  the 
walls  were  hung  with  admirable  illustrations  of  all  weights 
and  measures,  and  with  provisions  for  object-teaching.  The 
excellent  French  method  of  dictation  was  here  in  full  opera- 
tion. The  teacher  dictates  a  sentence  of  some  length  to  the 
whole  class,  who  write  it  out  in  their  copy-books.  Here  is  a 
combined  exercise  in  attention,  memory,  spelling,  grammar, 
writing,  composition,  and  style.  What  preliminary  attention 
is  given  to  writing,  and  whether  our  pot-hook  system  is  pur- 
sued, I  could  not  find  out,  but  it  is  certain  that  these  children 
(and  all  French  children  who  go  to  school  at  all)  write  a 
freer,  handsomer,  and  more  useful  hand  at  an  earlier  period 
than  any  other  children  in  any  country.  I  examined  some 
twenty  copy-books,  and  was  astonished  at  the  general  cor- 
rectness of  the  boys'  writing.  The  ordinary  elements  of  pop- 
ular education  were  all  thoroughly  taught.  But  the  school- 
books  seemed  wholly  in  the  interest  of  Catholic  superstition. 
It  is  not  because  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Church  was  ap- 
plied in  them,  or  the  precepts  of  their  faith  reiterated,  that  I 
complain ;  nobody  could  properly  object  to  that ;  but  that  a 
mass  of  puerile  superstitions,  legends  and  false  miracles 
was  emptied  into  the  memories  of  these  children  in  place  of 
interesting  facts  and  truths  either  of  natural  or  universal  his- 
tory, or  any  thing  instructive  in  ethics  or  science.  It  is  said 
that  an  association  of  ladies  exists  in  Paris,  whose  object  is 
to  reform  the  evils  of  this  system,  by  preparing  proper  school- 
books  for  the  common  schools.  But  while  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion is  at  the  bottom  of  the  policy  of  the  French  govern- 


Education.  53 

ment,  and  is  upheld  as  a  means  of  governing  the  masses, 
there  is  Httle  hope  of  any  success  in  this  direction.  An  ex- 
amination of  the  "  Annuaire  de  I'lnstruction  Pubhque  pour 
I'annee,  1867,"  shows  that  an  immense  machinery  controls  the 
system,  in  which  the  Church  has  a  very  weighty  finger. 
There  is  a  minister  of  public  instruction,  who  is  a  Secretary 
of  State,  and  member  of  the  Imperial  Cabinet  (M.  Duruy). 
Carnot,  Cousin,  Guizot,  Cuvier,  have  held  this  important 
position  in  former  years.  Under  various  departments,  ist, 
of  registration  and  of  archives  and  administration  generally ; 
2d,  of  the  administration  of  colleges  and  higher  schools  ; 
3d,  of  schools  of  a  second  class  ;  4th,  primary  schools  ;  5th, 
learned  societies  and  libraries  ;  6th,  financial  accounts ; 
under  these  various  heads  comes  every  thing  connected 
with  the  examination,  selection  and  support  of  teachers 
and  professors ;  with  the  building  and  furnishing  of  school- 
houses  ;  with  the  ordering  of  courses  of  instruction  ;  with 
pensioning  worn-out  instructors  and  even  their  widows. 
All  medical  and  law  schools,  as  well  as  schools  of  theology, 
are  included.  As  to  the  higher  education,  the  arrangements 
are  admirable,  the  teaching  is  free  and  accessible  ;  as  to  the 
lower,  it  is  still  formal,  not  designed  to  stimulate  intelligence, 
but  to  create  serviceable  and  pliable  subjects.  There  is  an 
imperial  council  of  public  instruction,  in  which  it  is  pleasant 
to  find  the  names  of  Troplong,  Milne,  Edwards,  Michel 
Chevalier,  Le  Verrier  and  Giraud.  But  the  ominous  pres- 
ence in  the  same  council  of  Mons.  Darboy,  Archbishop  of 
Paris,  of  Dubreuil,  Landriot,  Meignan,  Lavigerie,  all  arch- 
bishops of  other  French  provinces,  indicates  the  intention  of 
giving  the  Church  a  large  hand  in  the  popular  education.  It 
is  pleasant,  however,  to  find  Archbishop  Darboy  at  the  head  of 
the  Central  Committee  of  Patronage  for  Asylums  of  Charity 
— under  the  patronage  of  the  Empress,  and  to  find  in  the 


54  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

official  record  the  names  of  thirty  noble  and  distinguished 
ladies,  charged  with  the  duty  (how  purely  honorary  I  can  not 
tell)  of  visiting  these  asylums.  The  names  of  6000  teachers 
of  public  instruction  are  furnished  in  the  "  Annuaire."  The 
names  of  distinguished  pupils  are  published  in  a  roll  of  honor. 
Great  attention  is  given  to  perpetuating  all  literary  distinc- 
tions and  services,  and  of  regulating  all  decorations  and 
titles.  After  all,  the  budget  of  national  instruction  is  only 
about  twenty  millions  of  francs — which  I  suppose  is  less  than 
the  cost  of  instruction  in  the  single  State,  I  might  almost  say 
City,  of  New  York.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that 
there  are  three  sources  of  support  for  education,  that  of  the 
IVatiofi,  that  of  the  Departments,  and  that  of  the  Co??imunes ; 
and  that  altogether  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  seventy  mil- 
lions of  francs  are  expended  on  popular  education  —  which 
would  perhaps  be  about  two-fifths  of  what  is  expended  in 
America.  I  learn,  only  since  writing  the  above,  that  there  is 
to  be  allowed  henceforth  a  great  liberty  in  the  choice  and 
use  of  books  in  schools,  and  that  they  are  not  to  be  ruled  out 
by  ecclesiastics. 

Of  religious  education  there  is  a  great  show,  and  immense 
pains  taken  by  the  priests  to  keep  the  paysans  and  common 
people  in  the  love  of  the  Church  by  fetes,  and  by  appeals  to 
the  senses  through  music,  forms  and  method.  The  prestige 
of  the  Church  is  of  course  prodigious,  and  it  is  backed  by  all 
the  splendor  of  architecture  and  pictorial  art,  of  old  associa- 
tions and  saintly  memory,  not  to  speak  of  the  excellent  and 
indefatigable  works  of  mercy  done  by  Sisters  of  Mercy  and 
priests.  A  simple-hearted,  sincere  and  disinterested  class 
they  are ;  their  faces  marked  by  purity,  self-control  and  un- 
worldliness.  It  was  curious  to  see  a  party  of  six  of  these 
holy  women,  in  their  white,  elephant-eared  bonnets,  examin- 
ing the  laces  and  jewelry  of  the  Exposition,  without  cupidit\' 


Religion.  55 

or  envy  in  their  countenances,  and  as  if  satisfied  with  their 
own  choice  of  an  unworldly  life,  without  being  censorious  to 
those  who  had  chosen  otherwise.  Dogmas  are  rather  implied 
than  taught,  the  modern  Catholics  being,  as  M.  Laboulaye 
observed,  much  like  their  very  opposites,  the  Quakers,  in  say- 
ing very  little  about  doctrine,  but  seeking  to  recommend  their 
system  by  good  works.  The  Church  has  still  a  prodigious 
hold  upon  the  common  people,  while  the  middle  class  are 
rather  apathetic  than  opposed  to  it,  and  the  fashion  of  the 
cultivated  class  (when  not  influenced  by  political  considera- 
tions) is  sceptical,  materialistic,  atheistic,  especially  with 
young  men.  Protestantism  makes  next  to  no  headway. 
Never  popular  in  France,  it  seems  to  find  no  soil  for  its 
modern  growth.  That  inconsiderable  Protestant  commun- 
ion which  shares  the  support  of  the  government,  makes,  it 
is  said,  no  progress.  It  is  now  torn  by  a  violent  internal 
controversy.  The  Coquerel  party  is  very  nearly  as  large  as 
the  so-called  Orthodox  party,  and  is  likely  enough  at  the  next 
elections  to  prove  itself  in  the  majority.  Should  it  do  so, 
doubtless  the  Orthodox  party,  of  whom  M.  Guizot  may  be 
considered  the  leader,  would  secede  and  insist  on  a  separa- 
tion. At  present  the  Orthodox  party  is  slightly  in  the  ascend- 
ant, and  is  striving  to  force  the  Unitarian  or  liberal  part}' 
(they  dislike  and  avoid  the  name  Unitarian)  to  secede  with- 
out carr}'ing  any  portion  of  the  government  support  with 
them.  This  they  are,  properly  enough,  too  wary  to  do. 
What  the  government  will  do  in  case  the  Coquerel  part}' 
proves  itself  the  majority,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine.  They 
have  never  recognized,  and  on  the  contrary  have  refused  to 
recognize,  a  Unitarian  Church  in  France  ;  and  yet  if  Protest- 
antism in  any  form  is  to  make  head,  it  must  be  under  some 
new  phase  of  the  Unitarian  movement.  I  fully  believe  that 
an   avowed  American  Unitarian  Church  would  flourish   in 


56  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Paris.  At  present  there  are  two  chapels  here  of  American 
origin ;  one,  the  American  Chapel  so-called,  founded  partly 
by  Unitarians  and  considerably  supported  by  them,  but  under 
the  protection  and  direction  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  and 
on  a  strictly  Trinitarian  platform.  It  has  just  paid  off  the 
debt  upon  the  pretty  chapel  in  the  Rue  de  Berri,  where  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Eldredge  (formerly  of  Detroit)  ministers  morning 
and  evening.  The  congregation  is  respectable  in  numbers, 
and  a  body  of  excellent  intelligence.  In  the  morning  a  mod- 
ification of  the  Episcopal  service  is  read,  to  conciliate  the 
Episcopalians,  and  in  the  evening  the  ordinary  Congregational 
service  is  observed,  to  content  the  less  formal  portion  of  the 
worshipers.  Dr.  Eldredge  very  kindly  urged  me  to  preach, 
and  although,  to  save  him  embarrassment,  I  at  first  declined, 
yet,  on  a  hearty  renewal  of  the  invitation,  I  accepted,  on  the 
score  of  not  neglecting  to  meet  any  overtures  in  the  direction 
of  Christian  toleration  and  fellowship.  It  was  Trinity  Sun- 
day, a  fortunate  day  to  inaugurate  a  policy  of  charity  toward 
Unitarian  Christians  ;  and  after  the  stated  pastor  had  read 
the  service,  including  the  special  collection  in  honor  of  the 
Trinity,  I  preached  a  serious  sermon,  without  denominational 
ear-marks  upon  it,  such  as  I  am  in  the  habit  of  preaching  in 
my  own  pulpit,  and  without  a  word  of  special  adaptation 
either  to  the  place  or  time.  It  was  cordially  received,  and  I 
have  much  reason  to  praise  the  courage  and  courtesy  which 
the  minister  showed  in  departing  from  the  antecedent  usages 
of  the  American  Chapel.  Dr.  Peabody  was  asked  to  preach 
while  here,  but  unexpectedly  left  too  early  to  accept  the  invi- 
tation. 

The  Episcopal  Church,  under  Rev.  Mr.  Lawson,  is  suc- 
ceeding fairly,  and  now  has,  what  I  believe  has  not  happened 
before,  the  support  of  the  resident  Minister,  Gen.  Dix.  Till 
this  time  our  national  Ministers  have  attended,  it  is  said,  the 


Religion.  5  7 

American  Chapel.  I  have  seen  such  crowds  of  Americans 
and  of  Unitarians  in  Paris  that  I  wonder  an  independent 
movement  is  not  made  here  for  a  strictly  Unitarian  Church. 
I  believe  it  would  succeed  by  aid  of  English  and  American 
support,  and  even  win  some  French  followers. 

At  a  meeting  to  which  I  was  specially  invited,  at  the  chapel 
erected  by  the  Society  for  Evangelical  Missions,  in  the 
grounds  of  the  Exposition,  the  subject  of  the  keeping  of  the 
Sabbath,  or  the  "  Sanctification  de  Dimanche,"  was  discussed 
with  earnestness  by  several  of  the  leading  ministers  of  the 
French  Protestant  Church.  The  Rev.  Pasteur  D'Hombres 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Fiesch  were  the  chief  speakers.  They  were 
earnest  men  of  the  Orthodox,  school,  and  prayed  and  spoke 
with  the  usual  positiveness  and  narrowness  of  their  tribe,  and 
in  a  way  as  little  likely  to  produce  any  effect  on  ordinary 
French  feeling  as  though  they  had  attempted  to  overthrow 
the  light-house  near  by,  by  pelting  it  with  paper  pellets. 
Some  laymen  spoke  more  to  the  point  in  showing  the  eco- 
nomical advantages  of  a  cessation  of  labor  on  Sunday,  and  it 
is  by  that  door,  if  any,  that  Sunday  will  become  a  day  of  rest 
in  France.  Nothing  can  be  more  idle  than  to  attempt  to 
saddle  France  with  a  Scotch  or  a  New  England  Sabbath. 
The  truly  religious  people  in  France  (for  there  are  some)  are 
just  as  much  opposed  to  a  Puritanical  Sabbath  as  the  most 
w'orldly  and  careless.  It  behooves  us  to  understand  the 
working  of  this  business  at  home,  and  the  amount  of  lazy  and 
self-indulgent  neglect  of  religion  under  a  demure  exterior,  be- 
fore w-e  throw  too  many  stones  at  French  impiety.  It  would 
be  a  glorious  work  to  revive  faith  and  piety  in  France  (and 
at  home  !).  but  the  Sunday  can  only  be  changed  here  by  a 
total  change  in  the  feelings  and  customs  of  the  people.  It 
will  be  an  effect  and  not  a  cause. 

There  have  been  many  interesting  meetings  of  gentlemen 

C  2 


58  llie  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

from  all  countries  held  in  committees  at  the  Exposition.  The 
amount  of  hard  work  thus  done  is  prodigious.  I  have  been 
delighted  with  the  business-like  precision,  order  and  attention 
of  these  meetings — prompt,  short,  to  the  point,  and  always 
leaving  the  business  advanced.  The  presiding  officer  in  all 
cases  has  been  true  to  his  name,  and  has  kept  out  irrelevant 
topics.  No  meeting  of  more  importance  has  occurred  to  my 
knowledge  than  that  on  weights,  measures  and  coins,  the  ob- 
ject of  which  is  to  universalize  a  common  standard.  Prog- 
ress is  certainly  making,  and  there  is  a  reasonable  hope  that 
France,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  may  agree  to 
make  their  five-franc  piece,  dollar  and  sovereign  exactly  inter- 
changeable (the  sovereign  standing  for  twenty-five  francs).  I 
met  Senator  Sherman,  President  Barnard  and  Hon.  S.  B.  Rug- 
gles  at  the  seance  of  about  a  hundred  gentlemen  at  the  Salon 
d'Empereur,  in  the  old  Palace  of  Industry  (Champs  Elysees). 
They  had  all  good  hope  of  some  very  important  results  from 
this  series  of  meetings,  which  touches  one  of  the  most  imme- 
diate questions  in  the  commerce  and  peace,  and  in  the  ex- 
changes of  ideas  and  advantages  of  all  countries. 

The  meetings  of  some  of  the  representatives  of  the  nations 
who  were  parties  to  the  Genevan  Congress,  touching  the  neu- 
trality of  battle-fields  and  the  application  of  more  humane 
principles  to  armies,  have  of  course  had  more  of  my  time 
and  heart.  I  find  a  noble  ardor  animating  those  representa- 
tives. They  are  men  of  high  position  at  home,  and  they 
bring  very  generous  and  humane  feelings,  as  well  as  clear 
and  systematic  intelligence,  to  the  treatment  of  their  subject. 
It  is  most  encouraging  to  find  how  rapid  is  the  progress  of 
true  Christian  feeling  on  the  subject  of  the  treatment  of  the 
sick  and  wounded  in  time  of  war.  The  late  war  between 
Prussia  and  Austria  illustrated  the  working  of  the  principles 
of  the  Genevan  Congress  admirably.     Dr.  Evans  has  written 


The  Sanitary  Commission.  59 

a  book  in  which  the  facts  are  carefully  set  forth,  and  he  is 
circulating  it  extensively  in  Europe,  where  it  can  not  fail  to 
do  vast  good.  The  Princess  of  Prussia,  who  is  warmly 
American  in  her  feelings,  and  a  thorough  friend  of  the  Sanita- 
ry Commission,  is  earnestly  advocating  the  participation  of 
women  in  works  of  mercy  and  self-improvement.  The  Queen 
of  Prussia,  a  learned  and  admirable  woman,  is  also  devoted 
to  this  work.  I  am  proud  to  say  that  the  example  of  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  has  had  an  unexpected 
effect  on  thinking  people  in  Europe.  It  is  spoken  of  every- 
where with  a  sort  of  enthusiasm,  mingled  with  astonishment, 
as  a  sample  of  what  free  institutions  can  do  to  develop  the 
sympathetic  life  and  humane  affections  of  a  people.  M. 
Chevalier,  Senator  of  France  and  leading  practical  economist 
(the  French  Cobden),  told  me  that  the  Grand  Jury  (the  final 
authority  of  the  Exposition)  had  awarded  three  "  prizes  of 
honor" — the  highest  distinction  conferred,  and  of  which,  per- 
haps, five-and-twenty  may  be  accorded  in  all — to  the  United 
States  :  i,  one  to  the  Atlantic  Telegraph,  and  specially  to 
C.  W.  Field;  2,  one  to  House  for  his  Printing  Telegraph;  3, 
one  to  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission.  I  hope  this 
intelligence  may  not  prove  premature,  and  that  what  is  true 
now  may  experience  no  reversal  before  the  day  of  distribution, 
early  in  July. 

I  leave  Paris  to-morrow,  after  twenty-four  days'  busy  ob- 
servation, for  Belgium  and  Holland.  I  ought  not  to  omit 
saying  that  I  have  enjoyed  special  interviews  with  Chevalier 
and  Laboulaye,  from  which  I  have  derived  great  pleasure  and 
instruction. 


VI. 


THE     MIND     OF    FRANCE. 


Paris,  June  23,  1867. 

npHE  last  pleasure  we  had  in  Paris,  and  among  the  great- 
est, was  to  hear  Laboulaye,  in  the  closing  lecture  of  his 
course,  at  the  College  of  France.  He  came  into  the  lecture- 
room — a  plain  hall,  with  benches  narrow  and  uncomfortable 
for  the  hearers — at  precisely  the  moment  he  was  due,  12^- 
P.M.,  and  there  found  perhaps  three  hundred  men,  mostly  of 
middle  age,  or  above  it,  assembled  to  hear  him.  Thirty 
ladies  were  seated  nearer  the  Professor  in  an  enclosure  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  the  room  by  a  low  railing. 

M.  Laboulaye  is  fifty-six  years  old,  stoutly  built,  and  of 
about  the  medium  height ;  he  has  a  broad  forehead,  with  thin 
hair,  black  like  his  eyes.  He  reminded  me  by  turns  of 
Washington  Irving,  Professor  Agassiz,  and  Dr.  Dewey.  He 
was  buttoned  up  to  the  throat,  showing  the  decoration  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  in  his  button-hole.  He  came  in,  took  his 
seat  amid  the  plaudits  of  the  audience,  and  instantly  began 
his  lecture.  It  was  extempore,  but  varied  by  frequent  quo- 
tations from  book  or  manuscript.  His  style  was  as  exact, 
compact  and  finished  as  if  he  had  been  reading  ;  without 
hurry,  repetition,  lapse  or  flaw.  It  was  as  if  he  spoke  from 
memory,  except  that  none  of  the  effort  and  none  of  the  dead 
and  second-hand  quality  of  a  memorized  speech  were  ob- 
servable.    He  <2;ave  facts  and  dates,  even  hours  and  minutes. 


Laboulaye.  6i 

in  describing  the  events  attending  the  conflicts  of  Parliament 
and  the  King,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.,  without  once  re- 
ferring to  his  notes,  or  a  single  pause  or  strain  of  recollection. 
Remaining  seated,  his  manner  was  narrative,  and  his  tone 
hardly  above  a  colloquial  one,  yet  with  such  animation  of 
style,  voice   and  gesture,  that  perfect  attention  and  perfect 
audibleness  were  the  rewards  of  his  skillful  delivery.     For 
the  first  ten  minutes  his  gestures  were  all  with  his  left  hand, 
of  which  all  the  fingers  spoke,  and  I  began  to  think  him  left- 
handed  ;  but  later,  I  found  him  using  either  hand  with  equal 
grace  and  significance,  and  occasionally  both.     His  utterance 
and  manner  seemed  to  me  the  perfection  of  professional 
oratory.     Natural,  animated  and  various,  it  was  yet  dignified, 
didactic   and   measured.      His   general   theme  was  French 
Revolutions,  and  his  immediate  lecture  involved  too  much 
that  touched  the  present  passions  of  the  Liberals  in  France 
not  to  require  the  utmost  delicacy  of  handling  to  make  it  a 
safe  utterance.     The   Professor   made   the  facts   speak  for 
themselves,  and  only  by  looks  or  tones   indicated  his  own 
sympathies.     A  delightful   humor,  delicate  as  Irving's,  ran 
through  his  discourse,  which,  reduced  in  his  countenance  to 
a  latent  smile,  broadened  in  the  audience  into  free  laughter 
and  cheers.     The  faintest  shadow  of  his  inner  meaning,  sug- 
gested only  by  a  particle  or  a  tone,  was  converted  by  his 
hearers  into  full  and  solid  meaning.      Evidently,  a  perfect 
understanding  subsisted  between  Laboulaye  and  his  audi- 
ence, and  if  he  had  talked  Republicanism  outright,  he  could 
not  have  spoken  in  a  manner  more  thoroughly  liberal.     He 
concluded  his  lecture,  just  an  hour  long,  with  an  exordium 
in  which  he  intimated  the  difficulties  under  which  his  treat- 
ment of  a  theme  so  delicate  had  been  conducted,  and  made 
a  noble  plea  for  liberty  of  speech,  education  and  action,  which 


62  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

was  as  temperate  and  wise  as  it  was  inspiring  and  eloquent. 
Amid  an  enthusiastic  burst  of  sympathy  from  the  audience, 
M.  Laboulaye  rose,  bowed  and  retired. 

There  is  in  M.  Laboulaye  a  moral  earnestness,  and  an  in- 
sight into  the  springs  of  true  human  worth  and  true  social 
growth,  which  places  him  in  a  most  dignified  and  valuable 
position.  He  seems  a  man  incapable  of  being  tempted  by 
ambition  or  seduced  by  political  office.  His  sympathies  are 
broadly  human,  and,  on  human  grounds,  intensely  American. 
His  acquaintance  with  our  history  and  affairs  was  that  of  a 
native  citizen.  He  knew  things,  I  found,  not  only  in  gross 
but  in  detail.  I  found  his  table  covered  with  American 
books,  papers  and  cards.  He  was  in  regular  receipt  even  of 
our  Unitarian  monthly,  which  he  had  too  kindly  attributed  to 
my  care.  I  asked  him  when  he  was  coming  to  America ; 
but  he  gave  no  encouragement  to  the  hope  I  expressed  that 
it  might  be  soon,  and  even  doubted  whether  it  could  be  at 
all.  Happily,  no  man  needs  less  to  come  for  the  perfecting 
of  his  knowledge  of  us ;  and  no  man  less,  to  make  himself 
known  to  Americans  ;  yet  to  whom  should  we  give  a  heartier 
or  more  respectful  and  affectionate  welcome  ? 

I  called,  by  his  own  appointment,  a  few  days  ago,  on 
Michel  Chevalier,  who,  as  the  most  brilliant  political  econo- 
mist of  France  and  one  possessing  a  statesman's  opportuni- 
ties, had  a  lively  interest  for  me,  and  especially  as,  in  some 
sort,  Cobden's  ally  in  the  treaty  of  commerce  between  France 
and  England ;  and  also  as  the  heir  in  part  of  De  Tocque- 
ville's  influence.  He  is  a  Senator  of  the  Empire,  and  that  is 
to  be  in  a  certain  degree  hampered  and  compromised ;  but 
all  his  positive  influence  is  enlightened  and  modern,  and  is 
sustained  by  the  most  extensive  reading  and  study.  He  has 
a  brilliant  way  of  putting  statistics  which  gives  a  great  charm 


Prospects  of  France.  63 

to  his  writings.  His  conversation  is  less  striking,  answering 
more  to  his  appearance,  which  promises  little  vigor  or  esprit.. 
He  is  not  thought  to  have  been  very  favorable  to  our  cause 
in  the  late  w-ar.  I  found  him  less  buoyant  about  our  pros- 
pects than  I  should  have  liked ;  but  perhaps  as  much  so  as 
an  advocate  of  retrenchment  and  an  enemy  of  the  wasteful- 
ness of  war  could  be  expected  to  be.  He  was  warm  in  his 
expression  of  satisfaction  that  the  war  had  terminated  so  fa- 
vorably. I  found  in  his  son-in-law,  M.  Le  Play,  a  son  of  the 
distinguished  historian  of  the  Industry  of  France,  a  book  of 
immense  method  and  fullness,  of  which  the  Astor  Library  has 
a  copy,  to  which  I  have  owed  many  valuable  suggestions  in 
past  times. 

It  is  impossible  to  leave  Paris  or  France  without  an  in- 
creased sense  of  the  material  majesty  of  the  nation  and 
country.  The  American  idea  of  France  is  derived  too  much 
from  English  prejudices  to  be  correct,  and  we  look  at  it  too 
much  in  our  generation  through  the  feelings  we  have  for  its 
immediate  government,  to  do  justice  to  the  permanent  char- 
acter which  belongs  to  the  people,  and  to  appreciate  the  im- 
mense liberties  and  privileges  which  have  been  slowly  wrested 
from  the  successive  dynasties,  and  which  no  regime  dares  to 
invade.  The  industry  of  the  country  is  so  various,  its  inge- 
nuity and  taste  so  pre-eminent,  and  its  resources  so  rich  and 
self-contained,  that  its  wealth  is  easily  accounted  for,  and  can 
not  be  readily  diminished  by  bad  government.  But  what  is 
most  impressive  is  the  union  of  longevity  with  youth.  Ages 
have  stored  up  their  accumulations  of  riches  in  architecture, 
arts,  and  public  works.  The  country  is  teeming  with  agricult- 
ural labor  and  experience.  Its  wines  and  silks  and  laces 
supply  the  world.  Its  importations  are  light,  its  exportations 
enormous.      Its  people  are  sober,  industrious   and  saving. 


64  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Life  is  reduced  in  all  its  economies  to  a  finished  system. 
Waste  or  superabundance  is  unknown,  and  the  people  bear 
the  marks  of  general  health,  due  to  the  wisdom  of  their  per- 
sonal habits,  the  mixture  of  labor  and  leisure,  their  aptness 
for  recreation  and  their  knowledge  how  innocently  to  mingle 
in  social  relaxations.  A  universal  pride  in  their  country  and 
a  devotion  to  its  glory  sustain  the  government  in  constant 
improvements,  and  the  people  find  their  freedom  and  happi- 
ness largely  in  the  provisions  made  for  their  daily  enjoyment 
of  out-of-door  life  in  the  midst  of  public  gardens,  abundant 
light,  and  cheap  music. 

The  great  cities  are  everywhere  marked  with  evidences  of 
the  care  of  the  government  to  gratify  the  national  pride  in 
monuments  and  public  works.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
Frenchman  is  of  all  men  the  least  disposed  to  emigrate,  and 
thinks  himself  the  citizen  of  the  foremost  nation.  The  gov- 
ernment is  not  slow  to  encourage  his  self-complacency.  The 
very  "  Exposition"  now  in  progress  is  only  one  of  the  means 
it  takes  to  show  its  people  that  France  can  beat  other  nations 
in  every  form  of  industry  and  art,  and  can  fill  half  the  whole 
space  allotted  to  the  world  with  her  own  manufactures  and 
products.  She  has  made  her  capital  the  pleasure-ground  of 
the  civilized  human  race.  The  superfluous  wealth  of  all 
countries  sets  toward  her  beautiful  boulevards.  A  perpetual 
stream  of  gold  obeys  the  superlative  attraction  of  her  exquisite 
civilization,  and  flows  steadily  into  her  unreturning  hand. 
She  visits  no  other  country,  but  entertains  all.  And  she  is 
entitled  to  her  privilege  ;  for  it  is  diflicult  to  believe  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen  in  any  period  of  its  history  a  city  so  de- 
serving of  wonder  and  admiration  as  the  City  of  Paris.  Of 
the  strength  of  the  existing  government  there  can  be  little 
doubt.     Louis  Napoleon  has  known  how  to  surround  him- 


Louis  JVapoleon.  65 

self  with  able  administrators,  and  has  devoted  himself  to  the 
glory  of  France.  His  character  does  not  inspire  moral  en- 
thusiasm nor  personal  respect,  but  it  does  awaken  the  senti- 
ment of  admiration  for  ability,  courage,  persistency  and  power. 
He  has  made  the  army  his  ally,  by  a  steady  regard  to  its 
self-complacency,  and  has  placed  France  so  much  at  its 
mercy,  not  only  by  the  fortifications  of  Paris,  but  by  the  whole 
military  discipline  of  the  nation,  that  it  is  hard  to  see  how 
any  Revolution  can  occur  without  its  aid,  or  how  its  aid  could 
be  won  away  from  the  dynasty  he  has  established.  And  per- 
haps the  liberties  of  France  are  as  likely  to  flourish  under  his 
natural  successors  as  under  any  other  masters  of  a  more  pop- 
ular sort.  France  is  a  democratic  Empire.  There  is  a  pas- 
sion for  personal  rule  and  imperial  display,  united  with  a 
craving  for  a  large  possession  of  popular  independence.  This 
independence  is  hardly  political,  and  is  only  poorly  represent- 
ative. Neither  the  parliament  nor  the  press  are  free  ;  nor  is 
there  any  sufficient  right  of  assembling  together  for  the  con- 
sideration of  public  questions  or  the  manufacture  of  public 
opinion.  But  the  government  concedes  largely,  and  with  an 
even  freer  hand,  what  the  people  would  vote  to  themselves 
if  they  had  the  chance.  She  takes  away  the  appetite  for 
political  action  by  granting  the  fruits  of  it  in  advance.  In- 
terference, either  by  the  police  or  by  any  other  authorities, 
with  individual  rights,  is  small.  Life  and  property  are  won- 
derfully safe.  The  idealists  and  political  philosophers  are, 
of  course,  intensely  dissatisfied  with  a  state  of  things  which 
does  not  recognize  any  of  the  great  precepts  of  political  lib- 
erty. They  feel  the  thraldom  of  the  press  and  of  the  assem 
bly  to  be  an  intense  humiliation  ;  but  I  doubt  much  if  the 
people  commonly  enough  share  their  sentiments  to  make 
the  prospects  of  any  change  for  the  better  very  encouraging. 


66 


The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


I  doubt  even  if  the  death  of  the  Emperor  would  be  attended 
by  the  changes  which  are  commonly  predicted  in  England 
and  America.  But  France  is  a  dangerous  country  to  proph- 
esy in  or  about,  and  I  will  not  pretend  to  have  any  adequate 
materials  for  a  valuable  judgment  about  its  political  future. 
But  certainly  my  respect  for  the  nation  and  the  government 
has  increased  with  a  nearer  view  of  it. 


VII. 


AMSTERDAM. 

Amsterdam,  June  30,  1867. 

■\1I7'E  attended  divine  service  this  morning  at  the  West 
Kerk  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  It  is  a  venera- 
ble and  large  building,  formerly  a  Catholic  church,  stripped 
naked  of  all  its  former  magnificence  excepting  a  showy  organ 
of  white  marble  columns  and  much  gilded  tracery,  and  so 
adapted  to  Protestant  worship.  Over  the  preacher's  head 
is  an  immense  sounding-board,  and  over  each  of  four  other 
elders'  seats  are  also  sounding-boards.  The  minister  was 
clad  in  gown  and  bands ;  his  clerk,  perhaps  the  precentor, 
who  sat  just  below  him,  was  in  bands  also.  As  many  as  six 
functionaries,  elders  perhaps,  in  solemn  black  and  bands, 
and  black  gloves,  carried  round  bags  attached  to  long  poles, 
and  collected  money.  They  seemed  to  carry  the  bag  twice 
to  each  person.  Then  the  beadles  or  pew-openers,  in  white 
jackets  and  velvet  caps,  wanted  money  also.  The  congrega- 
tion was  large  and  attentive.  The  men  put  on  and  off  their 
hats,  and  stood  up  or  sat  down  at  pleasure,  but  it  was  all 
done  with  a  decorous  air.  The  seats  were  hard  enough  to 
make  standing  a  great  relief,  and  in  cold  weather  these  stove- 
less  churches  must  make  a  hat  a  necessary  protection.  The 
preacher  was  grave,  earnest,  graceful,  and  of  a  full  and 
pleasing  voice.  His  gestures  were  singularly  pertinent  and 
expressive,  but  he  used  gesture  even  in  his  extemporaneous 
prayers.     I  could  not  have  believed  that  Dutch  could  be 


68  Uie  Old  World  i/i  ifs  New  Face. 

made  so  pleasant  to  the  ear.  The  singing  was  congrega- 
tional, the  music  being  printed  and  permanently  adapted  to 
all  the  psalms  and  hymns,  and  the  numbers  of  the  psalms 
and  hymns  were  placarded  on  the  pillars  of  the  church. 
Every  body  had  a  large  Bible,  bound  in  red  Russia,  with 
clasps,  open  before  him.  These  Bibles,  I  noticed,  were  all  of 
an  authorized  version,  countersigned  in  autograph  by  a  per- 
son appointed  to  avouch  each  copy. 

Not  knowing  the  language,  we  mistook  an  harangue  of 
fifteen  minutes  long  for  the  sermon,  and  wondered  that  the 
money-collectors  should  be  so  busy  during  the  whole  of  it ; 
but  we  found  this  was  followed  by  a  much  longer  address, 
after  a  Psalm,  which  was  doubtless  the  sermon  proper.  It 
was  pleasant  to  see  the  origin  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
churches  at  Jipme,  and  to  feel  how  little  the  stream  had 
changed  its  quality  by  flowing  under  the  sea  all  the  way  to 
America.  It  seems  more. like  Sunday  here  in  Amsterdam 
than  in  any  place  we  have  been  since  leaving  home.  The 
people  look  solid,  grave,  and  attentive  to  their  religious 
duties,  and  Sunday  is  observed  with  as  much  strictness  as 
it  can  be  in  a  city  where  sixty  thousand  Jews  and  fifty  thou- 
sand Catholics  are  said  to  live.  It  is  not  possible  to  be  in  a 
Protestant  part  of  Europe  without  feeling  how  immensely 
great  the  change  is  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  elevation  of 
the  people,  and  how  great  the  decline  in  taste,  picturesque- 
ness  of  life  and  beauty  of  worship. 

Amsterdam  is  picturesque  in  a  certain  sense.  Its  old 
gables,  jutting  forward  and  breaking  the  horizon  with  their 
scolloped  fronts ;  the  circular  shape  of  the  streets ;  the  mixture 
of  land  and  water ;  the  gleaming  canals ;  the  dark  brick  houses 
with  their  polished  green  doors,  their  large  windows  and  their 
heavy-ironed  stoops ;  the  trees  in  the  streets ;  the  arching 
bridges  ;  the  charity-girls,  on  various  foundations,  all  in  their 


The  Dutch   Canals.  69 

several  distinctive  uniforms  ;  the  lumbering  wagons,  the  occa- 
sional sledge — a  carriage-body  on  runners  drawn  by  a  horse 
driven  by  a  man  on  foot,  who  drops  a  greased  rag  now  and 
then  before  the  runners  to  lubricate  their  passage  over  the 
pavement ;  the  peasants  in  their  gilded  head-ornaments  and 
snowy  caps ;  the  sober  citizens,  unsmiling  but  gracious  and 
formally  polite — all  give  an  air  of  much  interest  and  novelty 
to  the  city. 

Before  visiting  the  museums  we  took  an  afternoon  drive 
to  the  chief  curiosity  of  the  neighborhood,  the  little  village  of 
Broek.  It  is  about  six  miles  off,  after  crossing  the  ferry,  and 
the  road  to  it  gives  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  very  careful 
system  of  dykes  by  which  Amsterdam  is  defended  from  the 
ever-threatening  sea.  Naturally  enough,  Holland  is  skillful 
in  hydraulics,  as  she  owes  her  wealth  and  security  to  the 
success  with  which  she  keeps  out  of-  the  water  and  the 
activity  she  displays  upon  it.  The  level  of  the  canals  inside 
her  dams  is  only  i^  feet  above  low  tide,  and  she  can  only 
open  the  gates  that  exclude  the  tide  during  the  short  period 
when  the  sea  is  lower  than  this  level,  or  for  a  short  period 
longer  to  effect  a  circulation  in  the  water.  The  greatest 
nicet}'  of  management  is  studied  in  this  whole  business,  the 
metre  indicating  the  hundredth  part  of  an  inch  in  the  height 
of  the  water.  The  dams  are  very  broad  at  their  bases,  and 
built  solidly  in  stone,  sloped  and  rounded  at  what  would  else 
be  angles,  to  avoid  needless  friction  with  ice  or  tide.  It 
seemed  as  if  dyke  within  dyke  had  been  built,  to  make  dis- 
aster less  possible.  We  noticed  recent  repairs  on  minor 
dykes  of  earth,  where  withes  of  osiers,  laden  with  gravel, 
were  sunk  to  form  a  strong  embankment.  The  road  to 
Broek  seems  to  be  upon  one  of  these  dykes.  It  is  smooth, 
narrow,  and  somewhat  circuitous,  but  in  parts  runs  through 
very  narrow  passages  and  over  very  narrow  bridges.     In  the 


70  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

canal  by  its  side — as  we  supposed,  the  main  artery  in  the  rear 
of  tlie  city — we  saw  many  narrow  but  good-sized  screw  steam 
ers  full  of  passengers,  going  out  of  Amsterdam  at  a  rate  per- 
haps of  eight  miles  per  hour.  They  did  not  seem  to  agitate 
the  M'ater  or  tear  the  banks  as  I  should  have  expected. 
Broek,  which  I  remembered  with  interest  from  a  former  visit, 
has  a  great  reputation  for  cleanliness.  It  is  a  kind  of  minia- 
ture village,  where  the  streets  and  houses  are  all  on  a  baby- 
house  scale,  where,  no  horses  passing,  no  dust  is  kicked  up, 
and  where  abundance  of  water  and  a  pavement  of  brick  be- 
tween the  rows  of  houses  make  it  very  easy  to  keep  every 
thing  clean.  There  is  really  nothing  very  remarkable  about 
it,  and  one  is  amazed  at  the  sheep-like  procession  of  travelers 
that  now  for  thirty  years  have  followed  each  other  into  it. 
There  is  nothing  half  as  well  worth  seeing  as  in  any  one  of 
the  small  towns  or  villages  in  Holland,  which  travelers  rush 
by  without  notice.  But  it  is  the  fashion  to  see  Broek,  and 
we  saw  it. 

There  are  several  charming  collections  of  pictures  here 
of  the  Dutch  school,  old  and  new,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  see 
that  the  modern  genius  is  not  unworthy  its  origin.  Mr. 
Foder's  collection  is  an  admirable  evidence  of  how  much 
talent  for  painting  still  exists  in  Holland. 

One  room  in  the  king's  palace  here  (originally  built  as  a 
town-house)  is  worthy  special  notice.  It  is  thought  by  many 
to  be  the  finest  room  in  Europe.  It  is  a  hundred  feet  high, 
and  lined  with  Carrara  marble  to  the  very  ceiling.  Many 
other  rooms  in  the  palace  are  similarly  enriched.  There  is 
a  remarkable  degree  of  purpose  in  all  the  decorations  of  the 
old  palace,  which  dates  back  nearly  three  hundred  years.  It 
is  built  on  fifty  thousand  piles. 

The  more  one  studies  Amsterdam  the  more  sensible  he 
becomes  how  great  a  triumph  over  difficulties  the  whole  city 


Holland. 


71 


is.  Resting  on  a  bog,  it  has  the  solid  majesty  of  a  city 
founded  on  a  rock.  It  has  created  great  public  buildings ;  a 
fine  botanic  garden — distinguished  for  the  beauty  and  health- 
iness of  the  wild  beasts  collected  in  it  j  a  public  park  ;  and 
streets  on  streets  of  most  substantial  houses,  full  of  elegance 
and  comfort.  Its  great  banking  is  done  in  little  quiet,  out-of- 
the-way  cubby-holes,  where  no  sign  exists  of  what  is  going 
on  within.  We  mistook  Mr.  Hope's  office  for  a  ticket-office, 
and  applied  for  tickets  to  a  neighboring  picture  gallery.  It 
took  a  half-hour  to  find  another  banker's,  who  seemed  hiding 
away  from  customers.  Holland,  in  spite  of  its  marshy  foun- 
dations, is  a  most  solid  place.  The  people  are  grave,  earnest, 
self-respectful,  and  you  experience  at  every  turn  evidences 
that  they  are  even  better  than  they  look — worthy  descend- 
ants of  a  noble  ancestry. 


VIII. 


PRUSSIA     AND     THE     RHINE. 


BiNGEN  ON  THE  Rhine,  July  8,  1867. 

npHE  railroad  took  us  from  Amsterdam  to  Diisseldorf  in 
about  four  hours  and  a  half  Passing  from  Holland  into 
Prussia  we  found  ourselves,  the  moment  we  crossed  the  front- 
ier, in  a  military  country,  and  felt  at  once  the  change  from  a 
nation  at  rest  and  in  the  ordinary  condition  of  things  to  a 
nation  aroused  and  thrilled  through  and  through  with  new 
life  and  ambition.  The  depots  seemed  almost  American  in 
the  activity  and  crowded  appearance  they  presented.  Sol- 
diers were  almost  as  thick  as  civilians,  and  they  looked  like 
men  with  business  on  hand,  and  not  mere  frames  for  uni- 
forms. The  country,  too,  though  old  and  uninteresting  in 
ilself,  presented  an  appearance  of  rapid  improvement,  and 
looked  new  with  its  new  life.  The  farther  we  have  gone  into 
Prussia,  the  more  the  awaking  of  the  nation  has  struck  us. 
The  recent  war  has  put  this  country  into  a  striking  sympathy 
with  the  United  States  in  the  revival  of  all  its  energies,  the 
consciousness  of  power,  and  the  prevalence  of  the  sentiment 
of  nationality.  The  mighty  and  successful  effort  it  lately 
made  against  Austria,  so  far  from  exhausting  its  strength  or 
ambition,  has  only  nerved  it  for  greater  things,  and  aroused 
every  drop  of  military  feeling  in  a  people  who  have  not  for- 
gotten Frederick  the  Great.  It  will  be  fortunate  if  this  rising 
tide  of  public  life  is  safely  directed  into  economical  chan- 
nels. 


Prussia  and  France.  73 

The  Luxembourg  question  was  settled  not  without  much 
resistance  from  the  popular  feeling,  which  would  have  enjoyed 
an  opportunity  of  measuring  swords  with  France.  How  long 
the  itch  for  a  chance  to  pay  off  old  scores  with  their  natural 
enemy,  as  Prussia  holds  France  to  be,  will  be  controlled  by 
prudent  statesmanship  remains  to  be  seen.  But  we  saw 
daily  evidences  that  among  the  people  gj:  large,  and  specially 
the  army,  war  with  France  would  bring  every  Prussian  to  the 
front,  and  render  almost  any  amount  of  personal  sacrifice 
easy.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  magnificent  series  of  milita- 
ry displays  France  has  lately  made  for  the  entertainment  of 
her  royal  visitors  will  do  something  to  arrest  the  recent  peril- 
ous disposition  to  underrate  the  power  and  spirit  of  the 
French.  Earnest  and  vigorous  as  Prussia  is,  and  great  as 
the  late  increase  of  her  warlike  power,  she  is  not  a  match  for 
France,  and  would  engage  in  a  rash  undertaking  to  presume 
upon  her  victory  over  Austria,  and  try  conclusions  with  Louis 
Napoleon.  We  are  too  warm  lovers  of  the  new  German  Em- 
pire— for  that  is  the  manifest  destiny  of  things  here — to  wish 
to  see  it  risked  by  a  war  with  France.  Meanwhile,  let  us  con- 
fess the  strength  of  the  favorable  impression  all  the  Prussian 
officers  have  made  upon  us.  A  handsomer,  more  intelligent, 
or  more  spirited  set  of  soldiers  we  have  never  met.  They 
certainly  wholly  outshine  the  French  officers  in  mere  exterior 
promise.  Tall,  well-made,  soldier-like  in  bearing,  they  have 
the  manners  of  educated  gentlemen,  and  look  as  fit  for  peace 
as  for  war. 

The  King  of  Prussia,  a  man  of  seventy,  it  will  be  recollect- 
ed succeeded  his  brother  only  five  years  ago,  although  owing 
to  the  paralytic  condition  of  the  late  King  he  had  been  regent 
for  ten  years  before  he  came  to  the  throne.  A  great  stickler 
for  military  etiquette  and  discipline,  and  a  determined  up- 
holder of  his  prerogative,  he  has  never  been  popular  with  the 

D 


74  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

liberal  party,  nor  indeed  with  the  people  generally,  until 
since  the  late  war.  Two  years  ago  he  shared  with  Count 
Bismarck  the  odium  of  dissolving  the  Parliament  because  it 
would  not  vote  supplies  for  an  increase  of  the  army.  The 
wisdom  of  the  policy  they  had  steadily  pursued,  of  increasing 
and  every  way  strengthening  the  military  power  of  the 
country,  has  now  be^n  revealed  by  the  results  of  the  struggle 
with  Austria  and  the  consolidation  of  North  Germany  with 
Prussia ;  and  the  popularity  of  King  William  and  his  Prime 
Minister  has  suddenly  become  quite  overwhelming.  Even 
the  liberals  begin  to  believe  the  government  friendly  to  their 
hopes.  The  King  himself,  whom  I  saw  at  Paris,  and  again  at 
Ems,  looks  like  a  sensible,  serious  and  simple-minded  man. 
He  rode  last  Saturday  into  Ems,  which  was  decked  out  in 
charming  holiday  attire  to  receive  him,  with  a  simplicity  quite 
extraordinary.  A  single  outrider  preceded  him.  His  car- 
riage was  unaccompanied  by  others.  He  had  one  officer  on 
the  seat  with  him — and  two  mounted  men  followed.  He 
wore  a  rather  plain  uniform,  and  the  fatigue-cap  of  Prussian 
officers.  Nothing  could  be  less  pretentious.  The  coyntry 
people  from  the  neighborhood  had  assembled  to  greet  their 
new  king.  The  streets  were  gay  with  triumphal  arches  and 
flags  and  garlands.  Thousands  of  small  trees  had  been 
brought  from  the  forest  and  stuck  into  the  pavements,  to 
wear  for  a  day  or  two  the  appearance  of  growth  and  perma- 
nency— the  most  expensive  and  elaborate  form  of  festive  dec- 
oration I  ever  saw  undertaken,  and  wonderfully  successful. 
The  King  spent  two  or  three  days  in  the  little  watering-place, 
and  moved  about  with  almost  the  freedom  of  a  private  person, 
exhibiting  no -distrust  of  his  subjects,  and  meeting  everywhere 
with  hearty  and  affectionate  respect.  Count  Bismarck  was 
not  with  him.  He  is,  however,  very  popular,  and  not  insen- 
sible to  his  laurels.     I  heard  this  story  from  a  good  source  at 


Frederick  William. 


75 


Paris :  Some  one  said  to  the  Count,  "  Was  not  your  excel- 
lency afraid  that  the  people  at  Paris,  instead  of  shouting 
'Vive  le  Roi,'  would  cry  'Vive  Bismarck  ?'  "  "No,"  said  the 
Count ;  "  I  knew  exactly  what  they  would  say,  and  it  was  far 
more  gratifying  than  any  thing  else  they  could  have  said. 
First  '  Vive  le  Roi,'  and  then  '  Voila  Bismarck.'  "  And  cer- 
tainly "Voila  Bismarck,"  on  every  occasion  when  he  moved 
in  any  public  procession,  was  the  general  exclamation. 
Every  body  was  curious  to  see  him,  and  eager  to  point  him  out 
to  his  neighbor. 

Diisseldorf  is  a  model  German  town,  solid,  dull,  devoted 
to  art  and  music,  with  a  fine  park  and  capital  accommodations 
for  the  first  necessity  of  the  Germans,  a  place  for  gathering 
over  their  wine  and  beer  with  their  wives  and  children,  and 
spending  at  least  two  evenings  in  the  week  in  the  open  air, 
with  orchestral  music  and  pleasant  chat.  The  night  I  passed 
in  town  happened  to  be-  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Ko- 
niggratz,  and  from  5  to  lo  p.m.  the  best  portion  of  the  citi- 
zens were  in  the  tea-garden,  adjoining  the  town-hall,  enjoy- 
ing the  rational  amusement  of  excellent  music  from  two 
bands,  one  of  strings  and  the  other  of  brass,  who  alternated 
with  each  other.  Had  a  member  of  the  Total  Abstinence 
Society  entered  that  assembly  and  seen  a  hundred  tables  cov- 
ered with  bottles^half  empty,  of  every  shape  and  color,  min- 
gled with  mugs  of  beer  and  cups  of  tea  and  coffee,  and  men, 
women  and  children  seated  about  them,  and  all  partaking  of 
the  various  drinks,  he  would  have  been  in  despair  at  the  com- 
plete sway  of  wine-bibbing  among  the  people  of  Diisseldorf. 
The  first  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  ministers  of  religion,  the 
young  women,  the  old  men,  the  innocent  children,  all  would 
have  been  in  one  condemnation — a  wine-bibbing  generation. 
And  yet  a  careful  survey  of  the  garden  would  have  failed  to 
show  one  single  person  excited  to  indiscretion  or  the  loss  of 


76  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

self-control — one  single  noisy  or  tipsy  man.  And  here  for 
four  or  five  hours  are  whole  families  in  the  open  air,  engaged 
in  domestic  and  social  chat,  enjoying  music  and  the  sympa- 
thy of  their  fellow-creatures  instead  of  "being  scattered  and 
divided  as  with  us — the  old  here,  the  young  there,  the  men  in 
one  place,  the  women  in  another.  As  I  looked  upon  the 
cheerfulness  and  moderation,  the  cordial  intercourse,  the  ab- 
sence of  carking  cares  or  of  haste  and  self-condemnation  in 
this  German  tea-garden,  I  felt  that  Germany  understood 
social  life  far  better  than  any  portion  of  America.  As  to  the 
attempt  to  abolish  drunkenness  in  America  by  a  general  as- 
sault upon  the  use  of  all  things  that  can  intoxicate,  it  is  well 
meant,  and  has  its  excellent  effects.  But  it  is  greatly  to  be 
feared  that  it  is  not  enough  in  accordance  with  natural  laws 
to  be  a  permanent  influence.  We  must  improve  family  life, 
and  specially  must  we  cultivate  the  participation  of  men  and 
women,  old  and  young,  in  common  pleasures,  before  we  can 
hope  to  exorcise  the  demon  of  excess  and  sensuality  from 
American  society. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  friends  of  temperance 
have  of  late  been  trying  to  unsettle  the  opinion  that  drunk- 
enness is  rare  in  the  vine-growing  countries.  It  is  so  patent 
in  France  and  in  Germany  that  intemperance  in  the  form  of 
drunkenness  is  a  most  exceptional  vice  that  only  willful  Jjhnd- 
ness  or  partisanship  could  deny  it.  I  do  not  recollect  to 
have  seen  one  tipsy  man  since  I  left  Paris,  and  only  one  in 
Paris,  and  I  have  diligently  sought  the  places  where,  in  our 
country,  they  would  be  found.  The  truth  is,  wine  is  one  of 
the  most  common  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  gifts  of  Prov- 
idence ;  an  article  joined  with  corn  in  the  praises  of  saints. 
The  countries  which  possess  it  understand  its  use,  and  are 
just  as  little  subject  to  excess  in  using  wine  as  in  using  corn. 
Excess  is  found  everywhere,  and  all  Heaven's  gifts  are  liable 


Intemperance.  7  7 

to  abuse  ;  but  to  expect  France  and  Germany  to  give  up  wine 
or  beer  is  absurd,  nor  would  any  thing  but  harm  come  from 
the  attempt  to  enforce  their  disuse  by  legislation.  Special 
efforts  must  be  made  in  northern  climates  to  resist  the  tend- 
ency to  strong  drinks,  which  is  aggravated  by  cold  and  by 
the  necessity  of  harder  work  to  live,  not  to  add  gloominess 
of  weather,  short  days  and  much  darkness. 

However,  I  was  somewhat  horrified  to  find,  later,  in  com- 
mon use  among  field-laborers,  both  women  and  men,  in  cer- 
tain districts  aside  from  the  Rhine,  a  fiery  alcoholic  drink 
called  potato-whisky — strong,  intoxicating,  and  full  of  fusil 
oil.  It  is  a  part  of  the  daily  ration  of  field-laborers  in  the 
region  about  Frankfort — a  half-pint  per  day.  And  in  harvest- 
time  even  this  does  not  satisfy  them.  They  expend  a  certain 
portion  of  the  extra  pay  of  this  season  in  adding  to  their 
whisky  ration,  and  many  of  them  then  drink,  I  am  told,  to 
drunkenness.  This  is  a  proper  deduction  to  be  made  from 
the  universal  temperance  observed  among  the  better  classes, 
and  should  give  some  pause  to  the  inquirer's  verdict  upon 
the  sobriety  of  wine-making  countries.  Unhappily  the  whis- 
ky is  only  twenty-three  cents  per  gallon,  and  wine  is  many 
times  dearer.  It  is,  however,  universally  conceded  that 
drunkenness  is  more  and  more  rare  even  among  this  field 
class,  and  that  it  is  wholly  confined  to  it,  with  rare  individual 
exceptions.  I  shall  press  the  investigation  wherever  I  find 
opportunity,  and  report  results  without  fear  or  favor,  be  they 
in  accordance  with  theories  or  expectations  or  no. 

It  was  pleasant  in  Diisseldorf  to  see  one  or  two  familiar 
specimens  of  Leutze's  genius,  losing  nothing  by  the  neighbor- 
hood of  pictures  from  the  hands  of  the  best  living  artists. 
Several  of  the  pictures  which  so  long  hung  in  the  Diisseldorf 
Gallery  in  New  York  greeted  us  like  friends  from  the  walls 
of  the  Permanent  Exhibitions  of  Modern  Pictures  in  their  na- 


78  The  Old  World  i?i  its  New  Face. 

tive  home.  It  is  difficult  to  overestimate  the  influence  of 
that  old  gallery  upon  American  taste  for  art.  It  was  for  fif- 
teen years  the  best  collection  of  pictures  Americans  had  ac- 
cess to,  and  gave  thousands  their  first  idea  of  good  painting. 
I  went  to  Diisseldorf  more  out  of  gratitude  to  that  gallery 
than  for  any  other  reason,  and  I  can  truly  say  that  I  found  I 
had  seen  more  of  the  place  in  New  York  than  was  to  be  seen 
in  Diisseldorf  itself  With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  pict- 
ures of  the  two  Achenbachs,  and  one  or  two  of  Sohn's,  I  saw 
nothing  in  the  way  of  art  which  paid  me  for  a  day's  delay  in 
the  town. 

It  is  an  hour's  journey  by  rail  from  Diisseldorf  to  Cologne. 
The  cathedral  occupies  the  horizon  five  miles  before  reaching 
the  city,  and  seems  longer  in  the  distance  than  close  at  hand. 
Two  hundred  workmen  are  still  busy  in  renewing  the  crum- 
bled glories  of  this  magnificent  church.  It  will  take  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century,  even  at  the  brisk  rate  the  repairs  are  now 
going  on,  to  put  it  in  good  condition,  and  a  quarter  more  to 
finish  its  towers.  Then  it  will,  indeed,  be  the  St.  Peter's  of 
Gothic  architecture.  The  churches  of  Cologne  are  all  inter- 
esting from  their  antiquity  and  the  remains  of  the  Roman 
style,  which  prevails  over  the  Gothic.  The  famous  shrine  of 
the  voices  of  the  eleven  thousand  virgins  who  suffered  with 
St.  Ursula  in  the  fourth  century  (?)  is  still  the  centre  of  curi- 
osity for  travelers.  A  most  curious  collection  it  is.  The 
good  faith  in  which  the  pious  sacristan  exhibits  it,  was  the 
most  interesting  part  of  the  exhibition.  His  face,  simple  and 
devout,  glowed  with  holy  confidence,  as  he  looked  with  an 
interest  that  years  of  familiarity  had  not  weakened,  upon  a 
splinter  of  the  true  cross  and  one  of  the  original  vessels  that 
held  the  water  that  in  Cana  was  changed  to  wine,  the  missing 
fragment  of  which  he  was  good  enough  to  assure  us  was  in 
Notre  Dame  at  Paris  !     The  credulity  of  devout  Catholics  is 


Beauty  of  the  Rhine.  79 

only  equaled  by  the  incredulity  of  undevout  Protestants,  and 
is  on  the  whole  the  more  interesting  extreme.  Cologne  is 
reviving  in  trade  and  importance,  and  is  losing  its  world- 
renowned  celebrity  for  being  the  filthiest  city  on  the  Conti- 
nent. At  least  twenty  original  Jean  Maria  Farinas  keep  up 
the  manufacture  of  the  most  popular  perfume  that  ever  re- 
freshed the  nostrils  of  fainting  women.  It  is  natural  that  the 
worst  smelling  place  in  Christendom  should  have  invented  the 
best  artificial  odor.  Parents,  surnamed  Farina,  baptize  their 
children  Jean  Maria,  to  entitle  them  to  use  the  name  in  the 
manufacture  of  Cologne  water,  a  foresight  which  our  Ameri- 
can enterprise  has  not  yet  attained  to.  It  illustrates  the  sta- 
bility and  continuity  of  European  usages. 

We  were  fortunate  enough  to  approach  the  Rhine  from 
the  flats  of  Holland,  with  senses  hungering  for  variety  in  the 
scenery,  and  prepared  to  enjoy  every  elevation  on  the  land- 
scape. Nineteen  years  ago  we  had  reversed  the  journey  and 
come  to  the  Rhine  from  Switzerland,  to  belittle  its  hills  with 
the  memory  of  the  snow-crowned  mountains  we  had  just  left. 
I. could  hardly  have  believed  that  the  effect  would  have  been 
so  different.  The  P.hine,  which  in  prospect  had  affected  our 
imagination  and  excited  our  expectations  more  than  any  part 
of  Europef  grievously  disappointed  us  on  our  first  visit.  We 
returned  to  it,  therefore,  with  very  moderate  hopes,  and  were 
now  carried  away  in  the  most  unexpected  manner  by  its  beau- 
ties, which  it  seemed  as  if  nobody  had  duly  extolled.  From 
Coblentz  to  Bingen  it  is  one  delicious  succession  of  land- 
scapes, ever  varying,  and  presenting  the  most  vivid  contrasts  : 
dark  and  overhanging  precipices  on  one  side  ;  open  and  cul- 
tivated fields  on  the  other  ;  hills  beginning  in  the  most  soft 
and  verdant  garden-culture  and  ending  in  craggy  and  inac- 
cessible peaks.  The  terraces  of  the  vine,  mighty  stairs  for 
giants  to  climb,  are  opposed  by  smiling  fields  checkered  with 


8o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

harvests  of  all  the  grains  just  ready  for  the  reaper.  The  sud- 
denness of  the  changes,  the  depth  of^the  ravines,  the  jag- 
gedness  of  the  rocks,  the  richness  of  the  colors  of  earth  and 
stones,  the  beauty  of  the  ruins  of  castles,  growing  from  rocks 
and  looking  as  old  as  nature  itself,  spring  from  every  crag. 
The  splendor  of  the  associations  brought  to  mind  by  the 
names  of  the  villages  that  make  almost  a  continuous  tour  of 
the  banks  :  the  curious  long  boats  that  pole  their  slow  way 
up,  or  are  dragged  by  horses  or  by  men  and  women  on  the 
banks  ;  the  churches  that  lift  their  solid  towers  from  every 
cluster  of  houses ;  the  landscape,  changing  under  clouds  and 
passing  showers,  or  slowly  fading  in  the  long  twilight  or 
brightening  with  the  setting  sun  ;  the  stream  itself  so  rapid 
and  so  full — copious,  swift,  and  laden  with  memories  of  Alps 
and  glaciers  ;  the  lowly  valleys  opening  at  the  Lahn,  the 
Moselle,  the  Nahe,  and  fifty  other  points,  each  different  and 
all  beautiful — all  this  combines  to  make  the  Rhine  the  most 
picturesque  and  haunting  river  in  the  world. 

Some  Americans  aboard  our  steamboat  tried  to  persuade 
us  that  the  Hudson  was  more  beautiful.  We  admired  their 
patriotism  more  than  their  taste.  The  Tennessee  river  about 
Chattanooga  has  more  resemblance  to  the  Rhine  than  the 
Hudson.  There  is  nothing  on  the  Rhine  equal  fo  the  view 
of  the  Catskill  Mountains  from  near  Hudson,  but  that  is  the 
only  exception  in  its  favor.  In  all  other  respects  the  Hudson 
is  inferior,  in  vivid  contrasts,  variety,  ruggedness  and  soft- 
ness, richness  of  color  and  picturesqueness  of  effects. 


.   •  IX. 

HOMBURG    AND    GAMING. 

HoMBURG,  near  Frankfort,         ) 
Germany,  July  20,  1867.  J 

D  ADEN-BADEN,  Homburg,  Wiesbaden,  Ems,  are  among 
the  chief  watering-places  of  this  bath-loving,  mineral- 
water-drinking,  Continental  people.  Pretty  much  all  the 
water  drank  on  the  Continent  is  mineral  water,  wine  and  beer 
superseding  water  in  its  ordinary  use  as  a  beverage.  There 
is  a  mania  among  physicians  in  France  and  Germany  for  this 
kind  of  cure.  Drugs  and  lotions  are  out  of  fashion.  Nature 
is  installed  as  the  great  apothecary.  She  has  a  prescription 
already  made  up  in  her  great  subterranean  dispensary  for 
ever}'^  malady.  Her  chief  pharmacy  is  the  region  of  Nassau, 
where  the  petty  princes  of  Germany  are  custodians  of  her 
concoctions,  ranged  along  in  sparkling  or  cloudy  vials,  hot, 
lukewarm  and  cold,  and  sold  to  suit  the  wants  of  all  sorts  of 
invalids,  to  the  great  benefit  of  their  needy  exchequers.  Salt, 
soda,  iron,  magnesia,  sulphur,  and  all  their  various  com- 
pounds, at  every  temperature,  and  in  all  proportions,  are  dis- 
tributed along  the  footholds  of  these  petty  ranges  of  mount- 
ains, and  hither  in  July  and  August  flock  the  ailing  and  the 
feeble,  the  sick  and  the  not  well,  to  try  the  virtues  of  these 
natural  medicines.  With  the  really  ill,  the  gouty,  the  rheu- 
matic, the  consumptive,  and  the  halt  and  blind,  come  the 
countless  hosts  of  dyspeptics,  and  the  victims  of  luxury,  self- 
indulgence  and  sloth,  the  high  livers  and  the  bad  livers,  to 
recruit  their  wasted  powers  and  strengthen  their  feeble  di- 

n  2 


82  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

gestion.  And  following  in  their  train  the  whole  flock  of 
pleasure-seekers  and  fashion-mongers.  What  the  precise 
connection  between  mineral-springs  and  gambling-tables  is  I 
will  not  undertake  to  say,  but  certain  it  is  that  their  juxtapo- 
sition is  close  and  constant  in  most  countries,  and  most  of 
all  in  this.  What  costume  and  equipage,  balls  and  drives, 
flirtations  and  champagne,  or  what  are  called  "  American 
drinks,"  are  to  Saratoga  and  the  Sulphur  Springs,  gambling 
is  to  the  baths  of  Germany — the  steady  accompaniment  and 
attraction,  the  chief  talk  and  excitement. 

Here  in  Homburg,  nature  and  art  have  combined  to  form 
a  lovely  summer  resort.  It  is  situated  on  the  flank  of  the 
Taunus  range  (an  humbler  sort  of  Catskills)  six  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  with  pleasant  woods  on  one  side,  full  of 
game,  and  on  the  other  smiling  fields,  in  lovely  swells,  check- 
ered with  grains.  A  mountain  range,  colored  with  purple 
hues  and  attracting  clouds  in  every  form,  to  crown  their 
castled  summits  with  aerial  architecture,  lies  in  the  southern 
direction  ;  and  to  the  north  the  spires  of  Frankfort  and  the 
numerous  villages  that  people  the  wide  plains  between  the 
Main  and  the  Rhine.  A  cleanly  town  of  six  thousand  in- 
habitants, with  well-paved  and  well-built  streets,  and  presided 
over  by  a  venerable  schloss  or  castle,  the  home  of  the  reign- 
ing family  for  four  or  five  hundred  years  past, — it  is  only 
perhaps  within  twenty  years 'that  Homburg  has  taken  on  such 
prominence  as  a  watering-place.  But  immense  enterprise 
has  marked  the  administration  of  its  interests  during  this 
period.  The  centre  of  interest  is  the  Kursaal  or  cure  saloon, 
theoretically  and  originally  the  house  over  the  chief  spring, 
where  invalids  assembled  to  bathe  and  drink  the  waters  ;  but 
now  only  the  public  temple  of  pleasure,  the  centre  of  festivity, 
the  sheltered  promenade,  the  restaurant,  opera-house,  music 
saloon,  and  above  all,  gambling  hall !     The  Kursaal  at  Horn- 


Accommodations.  83 

burg  is  said  to  be  the  most  costly  in  Europe.  It  is  over  five 
hundred  feet  long,  built  around  three  sides  of  a  hollow 
square,  two  stories  high,  and  substantial  and  elegant  within 
and  without.  The  chief  saloon  or  music  hall  is  lined  with 
colored  marbles.  The  gambling-rooms  are  rooms  of  pro- 
digious size  and  height,  painted  in  the  most  gorgeous  hues, 
and  decorated  with  marble  and  gilding.  Elegance,  luxury 
and  splendor  characterize  the  whole  building.  Liveried 
lackeys,  of  most  commanding  mien,  patrol  the  apartments 
and  preside  in  the  passages.  Decorum  and  order  every- 
where prevail.  *  Carelessness  of  dress,  negligence  of  manners, 
absence  of  strict  courtesy,  would  be  instantly  corrected  by 
the  officials.  The  people  of  the  town  and  the  soldiers  (whose 
name  is  legion  all  over  Europe)  are  not  allowed  to  enter  this 
place.     But  it  is  as  open  as  the  grave  for  all  others. 

And  here  is  the  grand  exchange  of  all  the  visitors.  Beau- 
tiful grounds,  on  which  the  rear  of  the  Kursaal  opens,  invite 
to  exercise  in  shady  walks  and  to  repose  on  comfortable  seats. 
A  charming  band  of  forty  performers  plays  an  hour  at  the 
springs  (a  half-mil*  from  the  Kursaal)  between  seven  and 
eight  in  the  morning,  and  then  on  the  grounds  of  the  Kursaal 
between  three  and  four  and  seven  and  nine  in  the  evening. 
There  are  twenty  good  hotels  in  the  town,  where  most  visitors 
dine  and  breakfast,  and  where  casual  comers  find  beds.  But 
visitors  staying  for  a  week  or  two  commonly  take  lodgings  in 
the  town,  which  may  be  said  to  be  wholly  given  tip  in  all  its 
comfortable  buildings  to  this  temporary  purpose.  The 
owners  build  their  own  homes  with  reference  to  this  thrifty 
use  J  and  in  three  months  expect  to  reap  a  harvest  which  will 
go  far  to  support  them  through  the  year.  Meanwhile,  they 
themselves  retreat  into  little  cottages  built  in  their  own  yards, 
leaving  their  nice  homes  to  the  liberal  strangers,  who  pay 
only  fair  prices  for  excellent  accommodations.     We  have,  for 


84  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

instance,  on  the  second  floor,  three  large,  lofty  and  well- 
furnished  apartments,  as  quiet  as  though  in  the  depth  of  the 
country,  commanding  a  superb  view,  and  not  five  minutes' 
walk  to  the  Kursaal,  for  which  we  pay  forty  guldens  per 
week  (about  sixteen  dollars).  We  have  our  breakfast  (a  sep- 
arate charge)  at  our  lodgings,  and  go  to  "  The  Victoria,"  or 
"  The  Four  Seasons,"  or  some  other  hotel  for  our  dinner, 
which  is  furnished  for  about  seventy-five  cents  per  head. 
This  is  certainly  very  moderate  living  for  a  centre  of  Euro- 
pean pleasure-seekers.  At  i\  in  the  morning  all  the  visitors 
(if  the  weather  serves)  are  found  at  the  springs.  Here  a  mile 
square  of  walks,  beautifully  adorned  with  flowers  and  shrubs, 
and  kept,  chiefly  by  the  hands  of  women,  in  excellent  order, 
invites  to  gentle  exercise.  There  are  four  chief  springs,  but 
supereminent  among  them,  as  our  Congress  Spring  at  Sara- 
toga, is  the  "  Elizabethan,"  so  named  after  an  English  prin- 
cess, wife  of  a  favorite  reigning  duke  of  this  little  duchy.  It 
is  far  from  pleasant  in  its  flavor,  having  seventy  per  cent,  of 
common  salt  in  its  composition ;  but  it  is  found  an  active 
aperient,  and  as  such  is  immensely  popular  with  those  who 
bring  torpid  livers  and  weak  digestive  functions  to  Homburg. 
The  "  Kaiser  Brunnen"  is  more  of  a  tonic,  charged  with  iron 
and  sulphur,  but  agrees  very  well  with  the  "  Elizabethan,"  so 
that  my  morning  dram  is  two  tumblers  of  the  first  and  one 
of  the  last,  taken  under  strict  medical  advice  and  with  certain 
qualifications  of  diet,  especially  the  avoidance  of  fruits  and 
salads. 

After  an  hour  and  a  quarter  spent  in  gentle  exercise  and 
social  chat,  and  in  imbibing  the  water  at  proper  intervals,  the 
visitors  go  to  their  breakfasts,  usually  with  an  improved  ap- 
petite, but  how  much  due  to  air  and  exercise,  and  how  much 
to  the  waters,  I  will  not  undertake  to  say.  There  is  little 
activity  in  the  public  life  of  Homburg  between  8  and    11 


Gatning.  8  s 


"ii 


A.M.  A  few  seek  the  reading-room,  but  most  are  quiet 
in  their  lodgings.  But  at  ii  a.m.  occurs  one  of  the  great 
events  of  the  day !  The  gambhng-tables  are  opened  with 
much  ceremony  !  The  officers  or  administrators  of  the  bank 
come  in  with  the  money,  about  ^30,000,  which  is  to  be  played 
for  that  day  ;  and  it  is  counted  with  much  formality  and 
placed  on  the  table  in  full  public  view.  Even  that  portion 
of  it  which  is  in  i coo-franc  bills  and  is  kept  in  a  little  box  on 
the  table,  has  an  indicator  in  the  shape  of  a  gold  coin  for 
every  looo-franc  note,  kept  upon  the  cover,  and  changed  as 
the  fortunes  of  the  bank  change.  The  bank  is  pledged  to 
lose  no  more  than  the  fixed  sum  thus  publicly  counted  out 
on  the  morning  of  each  day.  It  must  play  every  day  till  1 1 
o'clock  P.M.,  or  until  it  is  broken.  Of  course  this  seldom 
occurs  ;  but  it  does  occur  occasionally,  possibly  two  or  three 
times  each  season.  There  is  a  set  of  hired  clerks  who  play 
for  the  bank  —  four  at  the  Rouge-et-7ioir  tables,  six  at  the 
Roulette.  The  tables,  of  which  there  are  five,  accommodate 
each,  perhaps,  twenty  persons  sitting  and  as  many  standing 
— called  technically  la  galerie.  Around  them  there  are  com- 
monly as  many  lookmg  on  curiously  as  there  are  players. 
Perhaps  there  are  not  a  hundred  persons  in  the  whole  three 
or  four  thousand  visitors  who  come  exclusively  to  play,  or 
who  are  seen  regularly  at  the  tables.  But  probably  a  quarter 
of  all  the  visitors  make  an  occasional  stake  for  excitement 
and  amusement.  Deep  playing  is  sure  to  attract  a  crowd  of 
spectators,  and  commonly  at  any  given  time  there  will  be 
only  one  person  at  each  table  who  is  playing  for  a  stake  of 
five  Napoleons — about  $20 — for  each  "coup,"  that  is,  each 
deal  of  cards  or  turn  of  the  roulette.  Most  of  the  players 
pledge  a  two-florin  piece  (eighty  cents)  on  every  coup.  Even 
at  this  rate,  as  the  deal  occurs  once  in  a  minute  or  two,  much 
money  may  be  lost  or  won  in  a  half-hour  ;  and  for  the  heavier 


86  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

players,  who  begin  with  five  Napoleons  and  double  their  stake 
every  time,  it  is  plain  that  several  thousand  francs  may  be 
changed  from  the  private  pocket  to  the  bank,  or  from  the 
bank  to  the  private  pocket,  in  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  I  have 
seen  men  and  women  both  going  away  minus  two  or  three 
thousand  francs  after  a  half-dozen  coups,  and  some  others 
carrying  away  as  much  after  ten  minutes'  successful  playing. 
Usually,  however,  large  players  are  too  fond  of  the  excite- 
ment to  leave  because  they  are  fortunate.  They  stay  more 
commonly  to  shift  their  fortunes  and  leave  their  winnings 
with  the  bank.  If  every  gamester  left  the  table  when  the 
chances  were  in  his  favor,  the  bank  would  soon  be  out  of 
capital.  But  it  reckons  too  surely  upon  the  appetite  which 
success  stimulates.  No  doubt  it  looks  with  gratification  upon 
the  good  fortune  which  often  attends  the  risks  of  novices,  for 
it  expects  to  reap  its  final  harvests  from  their  deluding  pas- 
sion for  the  game.  Every  body  understands  that  the  chances 
are  by  a  small  per  cent,  in  favor  of  the  bank  ;  but  it  is  equally 
understood  that  beyond  this  avowed  advantage  the  game  is 
conducted  with  entire  fairness.  The  bank  has  in  its  favor, 
besides  about  i8^  per  cent.,  only  the  advantage  of  its  capital, 
said  to  be  two  million  pounds,  owned  by  a  joint  stock  com- 
pany in  shares  of  £2^,  and,  it  is  said,  distributed  among 
widows,  orphans,  and  all  sorts  of  people  in  the  place.  It  is 
said  that  a  bold  player  of  large  capital,  by  continually 
doubling  his  stake,  would  be  sure  to  save  himself  so  long  as 
his  capital  held  out,  and  many  play  upon  this  principle,  not 
to  make,  but  not  to  lose,  and  at  the  same  time  enjoy  the  ex- 
citement of  the  game.  But,  after  all,  few  have  any  considera- 
ble capital  to  fall  back  on,  and  the  bank  has  this  great  ad- 
vantage over  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  all  its  competitors. 

I  have  tried  to  analyze  the  fascination  of  this  game  by 
watching  the  faces  and  the  play  of  those  engaged  in  it.     A 


Fascinatio?i  of  Gatning.  87 

more  serious  company  it  is  hard  to  conceive  of  than  the  one 
gathered  around  these  tables.  Silence,  gravity,  unsmiling  at- 
tention, absorption  in  the  business  in  hand,  a  strained  com- 
posure and  fixed  expression,  neither  moved  by  success,  nor 
disturbed  by  ill-luck,  are  the  prevailing  characteristics.  You 
look  in  vain  for  the  nervous,  impassioned,  suicidal  expres- 
sions of  countenance  you  are  taught  to  expect.  Most  of  the 
company  at  play  look  beautifully  unconscious  of  any  thing 
unusual,  disgraceful  or  sinful  in  their  occupation.  They  are 
simply  intent  upon  the  game,  each  man  watching  his  stake 
with  unfeigned  interest,  but  with  a  practiced  knowledge  of 
the  risks,  and  a  feeling  that  he  may  gain  at  the  next  turn 
what  liQ  lost  in  the  last.  The  possibility  of  success  is  always 
before  the  player,  and  he  sees  success  attending  his  neighbor. 
The  fact  that  in  one  minute,  by  sinking  a  florin,  you  may 
make  it  two  or  twenty,  presents  an  excitement  which  to  those 
without  moral  scruples  on  the  subject  must  be  very  fascinat- 
ing. Nothing  but  a  well-considered  and  established  con- 
viction of  the  public  and  private  demoralization  and  peril  of 
gambling  could  prevent  persons  from  dipping  into  its  deceit- 
ful waters  here,  where  a  sort  of  exceptional  license  covers 
gambling  from  reprobation ;  where  all  its  concomitants  are 
decorous ;  where  drinking  and  carousing  and  the  more  com- 
mon forms  of  dissipation  are  suppressed  ;  where  people  of  ex- 
cellent social  position  and  general  respectability — lords  and 
barons,  bankers  and  countesses,  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  fixed 
standing — are  found  amusing  themselves  at  the  gambling- 
table,  and  where  it  is  open  and  legalized  and  conducted  with 
unquestioned  fairness.  Then  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  look- 
ers-on are  not  really  participants  to  the  extent  of  lending  the 
countenance  of  their  presence  to  the  immoral  game.  Curi- 
osity and  a  desire  to  study  human  nature  under  a  powerful 
passion  has  drawn  me  very  often  into  the  saloon  ;  but  I  con- 


88  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

fess  I  never  felt  quite  innocent  even  in  watching  this  beguil- 
ing and  perilous  fountain  of  ruin  and  corruption.  The  chief 
evil  is  not  done  here  at  Homburg,  or  at  other  public  tables. 
It  is  the  passion  which  is  first  awakened  under  the  compara- 
tively innocent  circumstances  of  these  public  and  honestly- 
conducted  gambling-rooms  which  leads  thousands  of  young 
men,  and  old  ones  too,  to  private  play,  until  it  becomes  the 
business  of  their  lives  or  the  ruin  of  their  fortunes  and  bodies 
and  souls.  The  more  habitual  players  here  seem  to  be  old 
men  and  women.  Byron  calls  "  avarice  a  good  old-gentle- 
manly vice."  Certainly  the  love  of  the  excitement  of  gam- 
bling seems  to  survive  most  other  passions.  No  form  of 
gambler  has  appeared  so  truly  disgusting,  however,,as  that 
of  the  old  woman.  A  young  countess,  lovely  in  person,  and 
dignified  and  self-possessed,  whom  I  saw  now  losing,  now  win- 
ning, considerable  sums,  did  not  lose  quite  all  her  charms  in 
the  atmosphere  of  the  gambling-table  ;  but  several  old  hags 
in  lace  and  jewels,  who  sat  hour  after  hour  at  the  board, 
seemed  made  up  to  disgrace  their  sex  and  their  age. 

The  superstitions  of  the  players  are  a  singular  exhibition 
of  the  credulity  of  those  who  have  generally  ceased  to  have 
any  faith  in  God  or  man.  No  groveling  worshiper  of  an 
imaginary  toe-nail  of  an  imaginary  saint  ever  exceeded  in 
superstition  the  mass  of  the  men  and  women  who  sit  at  these 
gambling-tables,  solemnly  pricking  holes  in  their  card-gos- 
pels, from  which  they  read  their  guidance  and  through  which 
they  peep  into  the  future  fortunes  which  await  them.  Vic- 
tims to  absurd  mysticisms  about  lucky  numbers  and  false  in- 
ferences from  the  abused  law  of  averages,  they  go  religiously 
on,  trusting  in  their  stars  and  tied  to  their  dotage.  One  very 
pious  gambler  who  believes  in  our  glorious  liturgy,  but  not  in 
preaching,  hurries  from  his  Sunday  prayers  to  try  his  luck  at 
Roulette,  upon  the  24-10  (chap,  and  verse)  of  the  text  the 


Cuisine.  89 

minister  announces !  Another  turns  his  Bible  to  see  what 
psahn  opens,  or  what  page  cuts,  and  hastens  to  try  his  luck 
under  such  blessed  guidance  !  Now  it  is  the  Nine  which  the 
divinities  of  the  gambler's  table  have  consecrated,  and  the 
next  day  Seven  or  Twenty-three.  If  Maximilian  is  shot  by 
seven  men  on  the  19th  June,  7  and  19  would  be  the  secret 
talisman  of  the  first  gamester  that  heard  the  news,  if  he  were 
not  warned  by  the  fate  of  the  noble  gambler  in  thrones,  who 
staked  his  life  and  lost  it  upon  the  throw  !  Were  there  31 
words  in  Napoleon's  letter  to  M.  Rouher,  offering  him  the 
diamond  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  it  would  be  ground 
enough  for  a  bare-headed  Frenchman  here,  who  carries  his 
velvet  cap  in  his  hand  in  rain  and  shine,  to  play  all  day  on  that 
number,  confident  of  coming  out  winner  by  11  p.m.,  at  which 
time  the  tables  close  !  Failure  to-day  would  do  as  little  to 
cure  the  folly  of  such  a  hope  as  the  empty  results  of  ignorant 
and  fanatical  expectations  do  usually  to  correct  superstitions. 
It  is  not  the  fruit  of  the  superstition,  but  the  superstition 
itself  which  is  precious  !  Religion,  even  in  its  falsest  form,  is 
more  disinterested  than  defamers  of  human  nature  suspect. 
But  enough  of  this  hateful  but  fascinating  theme. 

Dinner  is  important  to  idlers,  and  we  dignify  it  daily  with 
an  hour  and  a  half  s  attention.  We  have  tried  the  table- 
d' hates  of  a  half-dozen  hotels,  to  see  if  one  German  dinner  were 
possibly  any  less  bad  than  another.  By  diligent  attention  to 
every  course  (skipping  the  intolerable  ones,  where  grease  and 
vinegar  contend  for  victory),  one  may  satisfy  the  absolute 
cravings  of  hunger,  which  eight  hours  after  a  very  modest 
breakfast  are  sure  not  to  be  without  importunity.  But  the 
courses  are  individually  so  meagre  in  quantity,  that  there  are 
none  too  many  of  them  to  make  up  what,  eaten  together,  will 
be,  in  the  language  of  California,  "  a  good  square  meal."  It 
may  be  an  idiosyncrasy,  but  none  of  my  party  like  vinegar  in 


Qo  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

their  poached  eggs ;  nor  tarragon  in  every  stew,  nor  salad 
and  sweetmeats  flanking  roast  mutton,  nor  fish  and  pudding 
half-way  through  dinner.  Nor  are  we  content  with  a  dozen 
dishes  of  meat  and  one  of  vegetable,  carefully  saved  (proba- 
bly stringed  beans),  and  served  separately  after  the  meats  are 
gone.  But  then,  our  customs  are  very  hateful  to  Germans, 
and  we  must  try  and  like  to  sleep  on  inclined  planes,  too 
short  by  six  inches  for  our  proportions,  and  not  to  smother 
under  their  down  beds,  used  as  blankets,  and  to  endure  their 
terrible  cuisine,  where  too  sour  and  too  sweet  are  always 
sickening  our  palates,  and  where  tasteless  butter  and  often 
sour  bread  vex  our  daily  patience. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  about  a  Roman  camp  (the 
finest  extant  perhaps)  which  is  traceable  within  two  miles  of 
this  place,  where  urns  are  found  full  of  undisturbed  dust,  with 
the  tear  bottles  lying  near  by;  or  of  my  visit  to  one  of  the 
great  German  wine  cellars  at  Frankfort,  where  some  famous 
wine,  forty-five  years  old,  tastes  like  very  poor  old  cider,  though 
very  precious  and  wholesome.  But  enough  for  Homburg. 
We  shall  stay  here  another  week,  to  give  the  waters  a  full 
chance,  and  then  away  for  Heidelberg  and  Switzerland. 
There  are  three  hundred  Americans  here,  it  is  said.  I  find 
several  valued  parishioners  among  them.  Where  afe  they 
not? 


GERMAN     LIFE. 


HOMBURG    LES   BaINS,  July  22,  1867. 

IGNORANCE  of  the  languages  is  a  terrible  obstacle  to 
any  clear  and  satisfactory  intercourse  with  the  natives  of 
European  countries.  Those  who  speak  French  and  German 
(to  read  them  is  of  little  service)  are  seldom  competent  ob- 
servers, or  sufficiently  interested  in  important  inquiries  to 
improve  their  opportunities ;  while  among  the  few  travelers 
who  thirst  for  a  true  acquaintance  with  the  political,  social 
and  economic  life  of  these  great  countries,  it  is  rare  to  find 
one  who  possesses  a  practical  familiarity  with  the  tongues 
that  can  alone  unlock  their  secrets. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  therefore,  that  our  colleges 
and  schools  should  use  new  diligence  in  drilling  their  pupils 
in  the  effective  knowledge  of  spoken  French  and  German. 
If  educated  visitors  to  Europe  possessed  the  fluent  use  of 
these  two  tongues,  we  should  in  a  single  generation  derive 
untold  and  invaluable  information  from  their  comparison  be- 
tween American  and  European  life.  At  present,  we  seldom 
draw  much  reliable  instruction  from  their  reports  and  obser- 
vations. Americans  associate  abroad  almost  exclusively  with 
each  other,  and  are  essentially  blind  and  deaf  to  the  inner  life 
of  usages  and  experiences  of  the  peoples  they  visit.  They  re- 
turn home  with  erroneous  impressions,  superficial  views,  and 
the  prejudices  they  brought  with  them.  I  speak  from  a  hu- 
miliating experience,  and  feel  that  all  I  venture  to  say  upon 


92  The  Old  World  hi  its  Neu>  Face. 

what  interests  me  more  than  any  thing  else,  the  moral  life  of 
the  countries  I  am  journeying  in,  is  subject  to  the  deduction 
of  a  very  limited  range  and  a  very  shallow  depth  of  observa- 
tion. 

I  was  fortunate  enough  yesterday  to  visit  a  German  gen- 
tleman of  wealth,  intelligence,  and  a  ripe  experience,  who  had 
lived,  twenty  years  ago,  long  enough  in  America  to  acquire  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  our  language,  institutions,  manners 
and  feelings,  and  who  had  been  long  enough  back  in  his  na- 
tive country  to  have  all  the  familiarity  with  its  present  life 
and  all  the  German  feeling  essential  to  a  proper  account  of 
the  existing  condition  of  Germany.  In  company  with  a  late 
Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  with  Mr.  Wells,  the  Commission- 
er of  Revenue,  and  our  excellent  and  devoted  American 
Consul-General  at  Frankfort,  Mr.  Murphy,  I  had  the  valuable 
opportunity  of  an  hour  or  two  of  conversation  with  Herr  G. 
There  were  four  of  us  pelting  him  with  inquiries,  note-book 
in  hand,  and  a  more  ready,  competent  and  unfailing  witness 
and  furnisher  of  precise  and  valuable  information  I  never  yet 
saw  under  the  process  of  cross-questioning.  He  is  one  of 
those  men  'the  whole  business  of  whose  remaining  life  should 
be  to  answer  intelligent  questions  concerning  the  economic 
and  social  life  of  Germany.  I  never  happened  to  meet  his 
superior  in  quick  apprehension  and  explicit  and  full  informa- 
tion, in  the  sphere  of  every-day  observation.  The  village  in 
which  Herr  G.  lives  is  half-way  between  Homburg  and  Frank- 
fort, on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Neider.  There  he  has  a 
large  farm,  which  he  carries  on  under  his  own  eye  for  a  part 
of  the  year,  living  in  the  winter  in  Frankfort.  He  raises 
pretty  much  every  thing  that  is  grown  in  the  Middle  States  of 
America.  He  sends  milk  to  market,  and  his  cattle  are  all 
stall-fed.  His  cows  continue  perfectly  healthy,  although  they 
never  leave  their  stable.     A  cow  is  worth  about  forty  dollars, 


Tenure  of  Land.  93 

a  farm-horse  about  sixty.  Common  field4aborers  are  hired 
at  about  twenty-four  dollars  a  year  wages,  with  their  board, 
which  is  estimated  to  cost  about  sixty  dollars  a  head  more. 
Women  receive  only  about  sixteen  dollars  a  year,  and  are 
allowed  the  same  quantity  of  food.  Their  daily  ration  is  two 
pounds  of  bread,  about  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  cheese,  suffi- 
cient potatoes,  with  butter  or  lard  to  cook  them  with,  on  four 
days  of  the  week,  and  every  other  day  a  half-pound  of  meat; 
beef,  mutton  or  veal.  Cabbages,  which  are  sold  at  a  dollar 
the  hundred  head,  are  considered  an  article  of  luxury,  and  do 
not  enter  into  the  common  food  of  the  laboring  class.  The 
farm-hands  are  not  furnished  from  the  village ;  they  come 
from  Bavaria  and  the  Fulda  country,  where  they  have  little 
patches  of  land  and  cottages  to  which  they  return  in  the  win- 
ter. The  villagers  have  usually,  in  this  Rhine  region  and 
about  the  Main,  a  little  farm  of  perhaps  ten,  fifteen,  twenty 
acres,  which  they  work  themselves,  and  from  which  they  draw 
their  living.  These  little  strips  of  farm-land  are  worth  from 
$500  to  $800  per  acre.  They  are  dreadfully  embarrassed 
by  regulations  about  the  time  and  method  of  their  tillage, 
made  necessary  by  the  way  in  which  they  lie,  tier  behind 
tier,  away  from  roads,  the  soil  being  too  costly  to  allow  the 
space  which  would  be  necessary  for  an  open  way  left  fallow. 
These  fields  are  divided  into  three  classes,  the  summer  fields, 
the  winter  fields,  and  the  Branch.  The  summer  fields  must 
all  be  planted  by  the  15th  May,  after  which  no  right  of  way 
is  allowed  to  the  owner  to  visit  his  land  with  cart  or  horse,  or 
to  carry  over  his  neighbor's  field  any  thing  likely  to  injure  the 
crop.  The  winter  fields  must  be  sowed  to  wheat  or  other 
winter  crop  by  the  15th  October,  for  the  same  reason.  The 
Branch,  or  the  fields  in  which  potatoes  and  other  crops  are 
raised,  requiring  frequent  visits  at  short  intervals,  are  by 
themselves,  and  a  road,  half  on  one  man's  land  and  half  on 


94  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

his  neighbor's,  must  be  left  open  at  all  seasons.  Of  course, 
the  character  of  the  crops  planted  in  the  other  fields  must  be 
confined  to  these  conditions.  A  special  officer  is  appointed 
in  each  village  to  see  these  strict  laws  enforced.  These  neces- 
sary but  burdensome  regulations  must  be  considered  as  of  the 
nature  of  a  tax  on  labor  and  production,  and  would  in  any 
close  competition  spoil  the  chances  of  a  market  for  people 
thus  tied  up  and  burdened.  In  Germany,  as  in  France,  the 
laws  partition  out  the  landed  estate  of  a  deceased  proprietor 
among  his  children,  and  this  has  already  gone  on  so  far  that 
the  right  of  way  in  certain  districts  to  these  fractional  lots  ex- 
ceeds the  value  of  the  land.  Special  legislation  is  called  for 
in  France,  and  will  soon  be  needful  in  Germany,  upon  this 
point. 

There  is  no  considerable  chance  for  labor-saving  imple- 
ments of  agriculture  in  a  country  where  labor  is  so  cheap. 
Still,  improved  ploughs  are  gradually  creeping  in.  Mr.  G. 
introduced  a  new  American  plough  into  his  fields  a  few  years 
ago,  and  an  interdict  was  immediately  put  upon  it  by  the 
council  of  the  village.  He  was  obliged  to  apply  to  the 
highest  authority  in  his  country  for  a  reversal  of  this  restrain- 
ing process.  It  was  granted,  and  he  put  his  plough  to  work. 
The  next  season  the  whole  potato  crop  in  the  neighborhood 
failed,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  G.'s.  This  put  the  farmers 
on  inquiry,  and  it  was  discovered  that  a  few  inches  deeper 
ploughing  with  the  new  implement  had  carried  the  roots  be- 
yond the  source  of  the  rot,  and  the  farmers  at  once  adopted 
quite  generally  the  American  plough.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
improvements  are  slowly  but  surely  creeping  into  the  costly 
and  wasteful  methods  of  this  German  gardening  which  is 
here  called  farming. 

•  Farm-labor  is  not  intelligent.     It  is  chiefly  Catholic  in  its 
origin,  and  comes  from  regions  that  are  not  enterprising  or 


The  Villagers.  95 

forehanded  enough  to  emigrate  to  America.  The  emigra- 
tion to  our  country  is  usually  from  districts  the  most  ad- 
vanced in  comfort  and  mental  activity,  and  it  is  the  best  and 
not  the  worst  part  of  the  laboring  population  that  goes  to 
America.  A  certain  kind  of  elementary  education  is  com- 
pulsory in  Prussia  and  over  Germany  generally.  The  gov- 
ernment furnishes  the  teachers,  but  the  parents  of  the  chil- 
dsen  pay  their  wages.  If  any  are  too  poor  to  do  this,  the  ex- 
pense falls  upon  the  village.  The  cost  of  roads  and  bridges 
and  their  maintenance  is  a  tax  on  the  village.  Each  village 
has  its  burgomaster  and  its  council.  The  chief  officer,  or 
mayor,  is  paid  a  small  salary  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  florins 
(forty  cents  is  a  florin).  The  council,  elected  By  the  villagers, 
has  authority  to  lay  taxes  and  collect  them.  These  villagers 
are  often.intelligent,  and  very  commonly  take  a  weekly  news- 
paper. Their  houses,  huddled  too  much  together,  and  with 
none  of  the  charms  of  our  American  village-homes,  are  yet 
comfortable,  and  the  streets  are  usually  cleanly ;  but  the  ap- 
pearance is  gloomy  and  monotonous.  The  villagers,  how- 
ever, meet  after  their  day's  work,  to  talk  over  local  and  per- 
sonal matters  and  to  discuss  politics  over  their  beer  and 
pipe,  and  are  not  without  enlightened  views  of  their  interests. 
Just  now,  of  course,  the  great  topic  of  .conversation  is  the 
gain  and  loss  of  the  forced  union  of  so  many  lately  inde- 
pendent States  with  Prussia.  Prussia  carries  matters  with  a 
pretty  high  hand,  and  has  not  been  very  careful  to  propitiate 
the  regions  she  has  annexed.  No  process  could  render  such 
a  change  acceptable!  But  the  tender  point,  after  all,  is  the 
question  of  taxation.  Some  abatement  has  been  made  of  the 
tax  on  land,  which  is  of  course  popular.  But  a  considerable 
increase  has  been  enforced  in  the  income-tax,  so  called,  by 
which  it  is  extended  to  a  class  that  hitherto  escaped.  The 
common  laborer  now  pays,  say  two  per  cent,  on  his  year's 


g6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

earnings.  All  who  have  an  income  over  a  thousand  rix  dol- 
lars, pay  three  per  cent.  The  taxes  are  not  high  on  the 
whole,  but  they  are  collected  monthly,  and  in  a  somewhat 
vexatious  manner.  First,  two  assessors  from  without  the  im- 
mediate district  go  from  house  to  house,  determining  the  tax- 
able property  of  each  citizen.  His  house-rent  is  regarded  as 
the  basis  of  the  estimate,  and  it  is  assumed  that  his  income 
is  five  times  the  amount  of  his  actual  or  estimated  house-reijt. 
He  may  protest,  but  then  he  must  submit  to  a  sworn  and 
very  detailed  examination  of  his  actual  resources,  and  in 
case  of  falsification,  he  must  pay  three  times  the  amount  of 
his  tax.  In  the  city  and  larger  towns  a  fixed  day  in  each 
month  is  publicly  advertised,  on  which  each  citizen  must  pay 
in  his  monthly  tax.  In  the  villages  the  circuit  tax-gatherer 
comes  in,  it  may  be  unexpectedly,"  and  rings  his  bell,  like  a 
town-crier,  up  and  down  the  streets,  and  every  taxable  citizen 
must  hurry  out  and  settle  his  account  with  the  government. 
The  amount  of  time  and  the  amount  of  soreness  involved 
in  this  frequent  operation  strikes  an  American  with  wonder. 
A  tooth  pulled  a  little  once  a  week  till  it  was  slowly  dragged 
out  would  be  its  most  natural  parallel.  I  saw  this  operation 
going  on  in  the  little  picturesque  town  of  Friedberg,  in 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  and  it  seems  general  in  Germany. 

Mechanics'  wages  are  about  fifty  cents  per  day.  In  Frank- 
fort an  income  of  $4000  enables  a  man  to  live  handsomely, 
and  keep  his  carriage  and  horses,  a  thing  not  justifiable  on 
less  than  three  or  four  times  that  amount  in  any  commercial 
city  in  America. 

There  are  considerable  woolen  factories,  and  indeed  facto- 
ries of  all  kinds,  in  this  region.  German  rivers  are  common- 
ly small  and  with  little  fall  of  water,  and  where  a  feeble  water- 
power,  which  might  answer  four  months  out  of  the  year,  exists, 
it  is  not  economical  on  the  whole  to  use  it.     All  the  mills, 


Extravagant  Tariff.  97 

therefore,  are  run  by  steam.  I  met  yesterday  the  hands 
from  a  mill  returning  two  or  three  miles  to  the  village  where 
they  lived  from  their  daily  work.  It  is  plain  that  the  science 
and  the  cheap  labor  of  the  Continent,  especially  in  Belgium 
and  Germany,  are  going  to  give  England  a  very  serious  rival- 
ry in  textile  and  iron  manufactures.  Coal  and  iron  by  the 
existing  railroad  systems  are  now  brought  very  closely  to- 
gether, and  it  is  found  more  economical  to  carry  them  both 
to  the  labor,  than  to  bring  labor  to  them.  Some  English  cap- 
italists are  erecting  iron  works  in  Germany  to  save  them- 
selves from  the  ruinous  competition  of  her  cheap  labor. 
There  is  one  thing  about  English  manufacturing  capital 
which  deserves  special  commendation.  It  depends  upon  in- 
crease of  skill  and  adaptation  to  circumstances  to  secure  its 
returns,  and  does  not  expect  that  the  government  will  fly  to 
its  rescue  with  an  extravagant  tariff  the  moment  it  discovers 
a  miscalculation  in  its  plan.  In  America  every  petty  local 
interest  or  private  manufacture,  the  moment  it  finds  its  ill- 
chosen  business  incapable  of  contending  with  the  competi- 
tion of  countries  favored  by  cheaper  labor  and  better  skill, 
hurries  to  Congress  and  demands  a  protection  which  costs 
the  nation  perhaps  a  million  or  two  of  dollars  in  enhanced 
prices  for  the  encouragement  of  a  branch  of  manufactures 
which  may  not  have  a  half-million  of  capital  engaged  in  it  in 
the  whole  country.  This  is  most  unjust  and  oppressive,  and 
ought  to  be  frowned  on  by  the  common  sense  of  the  people. 
If  we  can  not  practice  an  economy  and  a  skill  such  as  all 
other  countries  have  to  use  in  sustaining  a  fair  competition 
with  their  neighbors,  our  manufacturing  interests  will  suffer 
and  ought  to  suffer  when  they  undertake  branches  of  bus- 
iness to  which  our  climate  and  our  circumstances  are  wholly 
unadapted.  This  seems  specially  true  of  all  silk  manufact- 
ures and  of  many  other.     Any  general  objections  to  protec- 

E 


98  The  Old  World  in  its  JVeia  Face. 

tion,  founded  on  theories  of  free  trade,  may  well  be  withstood, 
but  we  ought  not  to  protect  feeble  branches  which  never  can 
be  inoculated  into  our  system,  and  which  are  purely  for  the 
interest  of  a  few  individuals  at  a  great  expense  to  the  body- 
politic.  Americans  have  a  great  natural  aptitude  for  ingen- 
ious machinery,  for  skillful  labor,  for  economy  in  produc- 
tion, and  for  intelligent  industry.  We  ought  to  encourage 
and  to  depend  far  more  than  we  do  upon  this  resource,  but 
our  recent  legislation  is  positively  discouraging  this  quality, 
and  foreign  industry  looks  with  a  smiling  self-congratulation 
upon  the  folly  which  is  undermining  our  progress  and  im- 
provement, by  accustoming  our  manufactures  to  artificial  pro- 
tection, while  it  debilitates  skill,  prudence  and  economy  in 
production. 

American  government  stocks  are  in  large  and  increasing 
demand  in  Germany,  and  they  are  purchased  not  on  spec- 
vilation  but  for  investment.  The  area  over  which  they  are 
rapidly  spreading  is  already  very  large.  Orders  come  in  to 
the  Frankfort  Bourse  every  day,  not  only  from  all  parts  of 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  but  from  Austria,  Hungary,  and 
even  Moldavia.  In  short,  they  seem  the  favorite  security  at 
this  time.  The  general  estimate  of  the  Frankfort  bankers  of 
the  amount  of  these  stocks  now  held  on  the  Continent,  is  not 
less  than  five  hundred  millions.  So  scarce  are  they,  that  a  de- 
mand for  two  hundred  thousand  in  a  day  would  raise  the  mar- 
ket price  of  them.  Probably  if  they  should  rise  to  ninety  per 
cent,  some  would  be  sent  back  to  America.  The  amount  of 
them  is  pretty  accurately  known  by  the  number  of  coupons 
sent  to  Frankfort,  the  moneyed  centre  of  American  securities, 
for  collection.  Baron  Rothschild  (of  Paris)  is  now  here  with 
two  of  his  brothers.  Their  great  house,  it  is  said,  does  not 
deal  in  American  Bonds.  The  Baron  (the  eldest  brother,  for 
they  are  all  Barons,  I  believe)  is  a  man  of  eighty,  but  in  ex- 


Rothschild. 


99 


cellent  preservation,  and  commonly  to  be  seen  at  the  spring 
early  in  the  morning,  looking  as  cheerful,  unpretending  and 
simple  as  if  neither  age,  nor  vast  affairs,  nor  honors  and  emol- 
uments were  resting  on  his  shoulders.  He  dresses  rather 
young,  has  a  light  and  un-Jewish  complexion,  and  is  specially 
gallant  and  disengaged  in  his  manners.  His  intercourse 
with  his  grandchildren  (young  ladies)  is  particularly  charm- 
ing. Indeed,  the  manners  of  the  people  in  all  classes  in 
Germany  are  most  easy  and  attractive,  and  in  somewhat 
painful  contrast  with  our  home  brusqueness  and  slovenli- 
ness. 


XL 


RELIGION     IN    GERMANY, 


HOMBURG    LES    BaINS, 

Near  Frankfort-on-the  Main 
Germany,  July  28, 


in,      { 
1867.  ) 


TT  is  Sunday  morning.  I  am  sitting  on  the  outskirts  of 
this  little  town,  on  the  flank  of  the  Taunus  range  ;  with 
fair  meadows  before  me  green  as  May  ;  scattered  trees,  tall 
and  thickly  leaved,  and  each  with  an  individual  character, 
waving  their  Sabbath  worship  ;  the  mountains,  with  their 
forests,  crowned  with  old  towers,  are  in  near  view  ;  all  the 
houses  are  covered  with  red  tiles  and  are  themselves  of  a 
yellowish  grey  ;  the  white  roads,  high  and  straight,  contrast 
beautifully  with  the  varied  colors  of  the  checkered  harvest- 
fields.  It  is  still  and  sober  as  a  New  England  Sunday. 
Within  fifty  rods  of  us — though  wholly  out  of  sight  and  hear- 
ing— a  thousand  summer  visitors  are  filling  the  grounds  of 
the  public  promenade  and  lounging  and  chatting  in  the  Kur- 
saal  of  this  most  popular  of  German  watering-places  and 
public  gambling  rendezvous.  All  day  long  four  great  gam- 
bling-tables will  be  surrounded  by  eager  players,  and  cards 
and  roulette  will  be  psalm  and  gospel,  prayer  and  hymn  for 
men  and  women  brought  up  in  Christian  countries.  A  band 
of  gay  military  music  will  fill  the  Sabbath  air  from  time  to 
time.  "  There  is  no  God,  there  is  no  immortality,  there  is  no 
judgment  to  come,"  will  be  the  litany  of  the  general  service, 
the  collect  for  the  day.  Within  a  few  hours'  journey  of  us 
are  Worms,  and  Erfurt,  and  Eisenach,  and  the  Wartburg — 
the  scenes  of  Luther's  life  and  labors  and  the  birthplaces 


Religion.  loi 

of  the  Reformation.  We  are  in  the  places  where  Protest- 
antism has  achieved  its  greatest  triumphs  under  the  flag  of 
Prussia,  the  most  Protestant  of  German  countries.  Even 
the  peasantry  are  emancipated  from  Catliolic  superstitions 
here,  and  nowhere  in  Europe  have  I  seen  as  yet  so  few 
priests,  or  so  Utde  of  the  old  faith.  There  is  a  German 
Lutheran  church  here,  and  an  English  missionary  chapel, 
and  this  evening  at  7  I  shall  go,  as  I  did  last  Sunday,  to 
join  in  the  public  worship  of  the  Scotch  Church,  which  sends 
excellent  preachers  all  the  way  from  Glasgow  to  keep  an 
altar  of  the  old  Kirk  warm  here  in  Homburg,  during  the 
period  when  English  and  Scotch  visitors  throng  these  baths. 
Last  Sunday  a  Rev.  Mr.  Lang  preached,  extempore,  an  im- 
pressive and  appropriate  sermon,  which,  with  the  service  gener- 
ally, was  edifying  and  in  a  most  liberal  spirit.  He  asked 
me  to  unite  with  him  in  the  pulpit  service,  but  I  declined. 

In  spite  of  these  small  indications  of  zeal,  the  general 
impression  here  and  in  all  other  parts  of  Continental  Eu- 
rope through  which  I  have  passed,  is  one  of  painful  decay  in 
the  faith  and  spirituality  of  the  people.  Roman  Catholi- 
cism prevails  as  a  powerful  political  system  and  a  still  mighty 
superstition  over  great  regions  ;  but  where  it  has  died  out 
nothing  vigorous  has  shot  up  in  its  place.  The  people,  es- 
caped from  superstition,  and  brought  into  contact  with  a 
free,  secular  life,  have  settled  into  an  easy  self-satisfied 
materialism,  chastened  by  music  and  the  love  of  order  and 
decorum,  but  without  aspiration,  devoutness,  or  faith  in  the  in- 
visible. Protestantism,  as  it  appears  here,  is  a  chilled,  repul- 
sive, ungrowing  thing,  entering  very  little  into  the  national  or 
the  social  and  domestic  life,  and  apparently  not  destined  in 
any  of  its  present  forms  to  animate  the  passions  or  win  and 
shape  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the  middle  classes.  Religion 
preserves  in  the  splendid  old  churches,  ruined  monasteries 


I02  The  Old  World  i)i  its  New  Face. 

and  bishops'  castles,  such  instructive  mementoes  of  its  old  tyr- 
anny and  costliness,  that  it  is  almost  universally  associated 
with  a  dreaded  political  past  and  a  deceased  childhood  of 
reason  and  common  sense.  Out  of  the  present  elements  of 
faith  and  worship  in  Germany  I  see  no  prospects  of  any 
healthy  and  contagious  religious  life  arising.  On  the  contra- 
ry, the  science,  political  tendencies  and  social  experience  of 
the  country  seem  to  me  all  fitted  to  extinguish  what  little 
Protestant  life  there  is,  and  to  leave  more  and  more  bare  the 
secular  basis  of  existence.  This  is  all  the  more  probable  be- 
cause life  without  faith  or  piety  is  so  agreeable,  decent  and 
moderate  here — social  experience  and  the  love  of  order  and 
pleasure  acting  as  substitutes  of  religious  principle,  and  pro- 
ducing so  largely  what  were  long  considered  its  earthly  fruits. 
Never  have  I  seen  a  people  in  whom  the  desire  to  make  the 
most  of  life  had  taken  on  so  systematic  a  method  and  such 
general  and  well-understood  rules  of  economy  in  the  use  of 
appetites  and  passions.  There  is  neither  suspicion,  shame 
nor  self-accusation  apparent  in  a  life  whose  recognized  object 
is  enjoyment.  The  instincts  for  God  and  immortality  which 
animate  so  many  in  our  country  to  self-denying  and  self-sac- 
rificing lives,  and  which  are  strong  enough  to  rebuke  the 
conscious  worldliness  that  does  not  admit  their  sway,  appear 
here  to  be  taking  a  very  long  and  deep  sleep.  It  is  not 
here  the  just  emancipated  working  class,  as  in  England, 
which  shakes  off  faith  in  God  and  Church  with  submission  to 
the  ruling  class  ;  it  is  not  the  young  professionals  who  culti- 
vate scepticism  as  a  distinction  (as  in  France) ;  it  is  not  the 
gay  and  dissolute  who  slip  the  bonds  of  faith,  the  better  to 
enjoy  the  freedom  of  their  passions,  as  with  us  in  America ; 
but  here  it  is  all  classes — the  most  industrious,  educated  and 
respectable  not  excepted — who  seem  to  have  discarded  the 
religious  view  of  life  and  to  have  settled  unostentatiously, 


Decay  of  Religion.  103 

I  might  almost  say  unconsciously,  into  a  prudent,  orderly 
worldliness,  which  asks  of  human  nature  very  little  except  a 
decent  regard  to  propriety  and  an  enlightened  use  of  its  op- 
portunities of  present  satisfaction.  Of  course  it  would  be 
presumptuous  on  so  short  an  acquaintance  to  pass  a  final 
judgment  of  this  sort  upon  a  whole  people,  and  I  shall  keep 
ray  mind  open  to  the  correction  of  a  larger  and  longer  study. 
But  my  present  painful  impression  is  a  very  strong  one  ;  and 
on  the  whole  it  is  what  would  be  expected  from  a  state  of  so- 
ciety in  which  the  public  religion  has  for  so  many  centuries 
been  a  superstition,  an  oppression  and  a  splendid  monopoly. 
It  is  very  plain  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  counting  much 
and  acting  vigorously  upon  the  manifest  incompetency  of  any 
Continental  type  of  Protestantism  to  gain  the  affections  or 
govern  the  wills  of  the  people.  This  it  is  which  makes  kings 
and  princes  lean  so  much  that  way,  and  encourages  the  Pope 
and  his  mighty  council  of  bishops  so  strenuously  to  foretell  the 
revival  of  the  Roman  Catholic  sway.  But  I  can  not  see  any 
reason  in  these  predictions.  For  some  time  yet,  perhaps  for 
a  generation  or  two  more,  Christian  faith  and  worship  will 
probably  be  undergoing  a  natural  decay  on  the  Continent. 
Life  will  grow  more  and  more  secular,  and  the  people  will 
try  out  to  the  bottom  what  purely  socialistic  elements  can  do 
to  satisfy  their  desires  for  happiness.  It  is  encouraging  to 
see  at  least  a  wholesome  reality  and  positiveness  in  this  mod- 
ern life.  The  world  and  its  solid  contents,  and  the  immedi- 
ate capacities  of  personal  and  social  enjoyment,  are  at  least 
unquestioned  realities.  There  is  no  hypocrisy,  sentimental- 
ism  or  idle  asceticism,  no  priestcraft  or  bigotry  likely  to  be  as- 
sociated with  their  use,  and  religion  has  so  long  abused  and 
maligned  the  world  that  it  will  take  a  good  many  generations 
to  give  its  claims  their  rightful  place  in  the  regards  of  men. 
When  it  revives  with  power,  it  will  produce  a  more  real  and 


I04  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

more  reasonable  faith,  and  give  Christianity  a  deeper  and 
more  complete  hold  than  it  ever  yet  has  had  upon  society. 
Nobody  acquainted  with  the  permanent  needs  and  capacities 
of  human  nature  need  fear  that  religion  will  die  out,  or  can 
doubt  that  the  present  lull  in  its  influence  will  be  followed 
by  a  mighty  sweep  of  its  holy  breath  when  the  common  air  of 
the  world  has  been  exhausted  of  vitality,  and  the  noble  senti- 
ments begin  to  gasp  for  life.  There  must  soon  develop  it- 
self, I  think,  a  great  general  discontent  with  this  level  life  of 
regulated  and  systematic  worldliness.  But  at  present  it  is 
satisfying  and  victorious. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  religious  body  in  Germany,  and  it  is 
in  the  main  soundly  orthodox  in  its  theology.  In  Berlin  and 
other  great  cities  you  find  Protestant  churches  well  attended, 
especially  by  women,  where  the  preaching,  if  a  little  senti- 
mental and  vague,  is  still  earnest  and  evangelical,  and  where 
the  prayers  and  hymns  are  very  thorough  in  their  orthodoxy. 
The  general  participation  in  the  singing  gives  much  warmth 
to  the  worship.  This  is  true  also  of  the  German  Catholic 
worship,  where,  unlike  other  Catholic  churches,  the  people 
universally  sing,  and  seem  really  interested  in  and  to  be  help- 
ing on  the  worship.  There,  however,  it  is  only  the  humbler 
class  that  attends.  But  these  manifestations  are  exceptional. 
This  kind  of  faith  is  against  the  grain  and  spirit  of  the  time. 
Evangelicism  is  maintained  in  the  Protestant  Church  by  pro- 
digious effort  on  the  part  of  a  few  anxious  and  faithful  souls, 
alarmed  at  the  general  tendencies  of  thought  and  life,  and 
willing  to  shut  their  own  eyes  and  the  eyes  of  others  if  only 
so  the  old  confidence  and  the  old  piety  can  be  upheld  or 
brought  back.  Meanwhile  the  intelligence,  the  political  as- 
piration, the  science  and  philosophy,  the  experience  and 
courage  of  the  community  are  all  leaning  the  other  way. 
The  universities,  as  a  rule,  are  favoring  the  secular  and  non- 


Rationalism.  105 

religious  view  and  feeling.     The  savans  and  metaphysicians 
are  mostly  openly  or  covertly  sceptics  and  positivists.     A  few 
months  ago,  at  one  of  the  universities,  the  birthday  of  one 
of  the  most  venerable  and  popular  of  the  professors  was  cel- 
ebrated with  literary  and  social  festivities,  and  after  dinner, 
it  is  said,  in  an  address  to  the  company,  he  openly  boasted 
of  his  atheism.     Hegelianism  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  phi- 
losophy, and  while  its  right  wing  is  cautiously  respectful  to 
Christian  faith,  its  left  is,  less  dangerously  perhaps,  denun- 
ciatory of  it.      The  labors  of  Strauss  have  produced  more 
effect  than  we  are  aware  of  among  the  educated  minds  of 
Germany.     The  authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  Gospels, 
it  seems  very  largely  assumed,  have  been  finally  discredited. 
Miracles,  few  scholarly  men,  not  tied  to  official  necessities, 
have  the  courage  to  treat  with  the  least  respect.     It  seems 
settled,  at  least  for  the  time,  by  the  physicists  of  England  and 
the  savans  and  metaphysicians  of  France  and  Germany,  that 
whatever   else   may  be  true  about  Christianity,  there  is  no 
need  of  considering  any  farther  the  possibility  of  events  like 
the  resurrection.     Is  it  possible  for  Christianity,  as  an  insti- 
tution or  a  religion,  to  survive  the  prevalence  of  opinions  so 
radically  destructive  as  this  ? 

And  yet,  those  who  know  most  and  think  most  seriously 
and  candidly,  are  forced  to  acknowledge  that  the  Straussians 
and  the  savans  have  as  yet  the  best  of  the  argument  and  the 
weight  of  scholarship  and  learning  with  them,  and  that  the 
weapons  with  which  they  are  to  be  conquered  are  not  yet 
forged.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  deep  instinct  which  makes 
profoundly  religious  natures  cling,  even  against  the  evidence 
of  unanswerable  arguments,  to  the  supernatural  authority  of 
the  Gospel  faith,  there  is  now  a  disposition  to  turn  from  the 
purely  literary  testimony  of  authentic  Gospels  to  the  evidence 
— always  so  much  valued  in  the  Catholic  world — offered  by 

E  2 


io6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  living  witness  of  the  Church.  Allow  that  the  Gospels  (if 
it  must  be  so)  were  not  written  as  early  as  has  been  affirmed 
by  learned  Christians — nay,  that  they  did  not  exist  until  the 
early  part  of  the  second  century — certainly  the  Church  had 
existed  for  a  century  before !  Is  it  not  difficult,  except  on 
the  theory  of  the  essential  truth  of  the  supernatural  facts  in 
the  Gospels,  to  account  for  their  origin  and  their  reception 
as  they  are  presented  in  the  Gospels,  at  a  period  when  the 
memory  of  men  was  so  little  removed  from  the  alleged  time 
and  place  of  their  happening  ?  and  is  it  not  even  more  diffi- 
cult, if  the  Gospels  did  not  exist,  to  account  for  the  faith 
which  had  originated  the  Church,  and  for  the  supernatural 
character  of  that  faith  on  any  hypothesis  but  that  of  a  mirac- 
ulous source  ?  We  do  not  get  rid  of  Christianity  by  getting 
rid  of  the  New  Testament !  We  have  to  account  for  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Church  and  the  Gospel  which  it  taught  and 
believed,  whether  the  New  Testament  is  authentic  or  no. 
Whether  any  philosophy  of  human  nature,  or  any  tendencies 
to  the  love  of  the  marvelous,  will  furnish  as  credible  a  key 
to  the  origin  of  the  Church  and  its  early  supernaturalism  as 
the  hypothesis  of  the  reality  of  the  facts  which  it  claimed  to 
begin  from,  remains  to  be  seen.  Hostility  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  theory  of  a  living  witness  in  the  Church  has  doubtless 
blinded  Protestants  to  the  importance  of  this  branch,  or  rath- 
er root,  of  testimony.  The  Bibliolatry  of  Protestant  orthodoxy 
has  weakened  confidence  in  the  self-evidencing  truth  of  a  liv- 
ing Church.  But  there  is  evidence  of  a  reviving  sense  of  the 
indispensable  importance  of  this  witness,  and  if  the  question 
of  this  generation,  touching  the  authenticity  and  genuineness 
of  the  Gospels,  is  answered  negatively,  there  will  still  remain 
the  deeper  question  of  the  origin  of  the  Christian  Church  and 
the  faith  of  that  Church. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  liberal  element  in  the  Protest- 


Liberal  Christianity.  107 

antism  of  Germany,  I  mean  that  branch  of  its  Protestantism 
which  we  should  consider  most  in  sympathy  with  Unitarian- 
ism,  is  very  earnest  or  creative.  It  seems  still  rather  a  nega- 
tion of  orthodoxy,  than  an  affirmation  of  the  positive  truths  of 
Christianity.  A  large  part  of  it,  I  should  say,  from  all  I  can 
learn,  is  much  in  the  condition  of  the  Arminianism  and  Arian- 
ism  which,  before  the  positive  secession  of  the  Unitarian  par- 
ty in  Massachusetts,  beat  with  feeble  pulse  and  in  a  sort  of 
conscious  trance  within  the  breasts  of  the  majority  of  the 
clergy  of  the  old  Bay  State.  The  liberal  pulpit  does  not  af- 
firm its  faith  positively  ;  it  simply  does  not  affirm  the  old  faith 
more  than  it  can  help  doing,  and  maintains  the  institutions 
of  religion  in  a  perfunctory  way.  Forced  to  take  positive 
ground,  I  fear  that  a  large  part  of  this  extensive  body  would 
be  compelled  to  abandon  Christian  territory  altogether.  In 
short,  here,  as  to  a  less  but  still  a  large  degree  in  Ameri- 
ca and  England,  the  educated  and  emancipated  mind  of  the 
country  is  so  much  more  in  love  with  liberty  than  with  truth, 
and  so  much  more  interested  in  general  truth  than  in  relig- 
ious truth,  that  Christian  faith  and  Christian  institutions  con- 
cern them  only  so  far  as  they  can  be  made  a  part  of  general 
culture,  and  they  are  always  ready  to  drop  from  the  Christian 
tree,  on  to  the  ground  of  universal  philosophy,  if  it  is  serious- 
ly shaken. 

With  such  tendencies  and  with  such  pioneers,  liberal 
Christianity  has  feeble  chances  in  this  or  in  any  other  coun- 
try. Probably,  until  the  supernatural  authority  of  the  Gospel 
is  substantiated  by  its  old  friends — until  orthodoxy  has  made 
firm  ground  for  a  positive  faith  in  revealed  religion,  liberal 
Christianity  on  the  Continent  will  not  advance  as  an  organi- 
zation. It  has  not  earnestness  and  faith  enough  to  make  its 
own  ground  of  travel.  It  is  not  the  less  true  because  it  is 
lost  in  the  contemplation  of  its  own  liberty.    It  is  not  the  less 


io8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

alive  because  it  has  no  shell  to  live  in,  but  it  is  incapacitated 
for  locomotion  and  self-propagation.  It  is  curious  to  see 
how  dependent  on  each  other  orthodoxy  and  liberal  Chris- 
tianity just  now  are.  Take  away  the  spirit  of  liberal  Chris- 
tianity from  orthodoxy,  and  it  would  rust  in  its  hinges  and 
fall  into  dust  and  ashes.  Take  away  the  form  of  orthodoxy 
from  liberal  Christianity,  and  it  evaporates  like  an  essence 
out  of  its  vial.  But  this  can  not  always  be  so.  Orthodoxy 
has  one  great  service  to  render  the  Church  and  humanity  be- 
fore she  finally  retires.  She  still  has  the  prestige  and  the  or- 
ganization, the  numbers  and  the  wealth  of  the  Christian 
world  with  her.  She  has  the  piety  and  mystic  faith  and  fla- 
vor of  the  holy  past — the  habit  of  belief  and  the  custody  of 
the  vessels  and  ordinances  of  the  Church.  What  Catholicism 
did  and  is  still  in  part  doing  for  Protestantism,  keeping  up 
her  connection  with  the  holy  places  and  the  first  beginnings 
of  the  Christian  faith,  orthodoxy  will  for  a  time  have  to  do 
for  the  reformed  Protestant  faith,  which  is  to  be  some  richer 
and  more  embodied  form  of  that  liberal  Christianity  which  it 
has  been  the  privilege  and  pain,  the  glory  and  the  crucifixion 
of  a  handful  of  people  to  maintain  in  a  crude  shape  for  one 
generation. 

There  is  a  certain  expectation  of  a  coming  Church  in  the 
air  of  even  cultivated  and  sceptical  Germany.  Meanwhile 
scholars  and  savans  are  rather  desirous  that  their  wives  and 
daughters  should  profess  and  enjoy  any  form  of  Christian 
faith  that  will  interest  them. 

No  class  of  persons  in  Germany  has  touched  me  so  much 
as  the  class  just  above  the  peasants  and  just  below  the  pro- 
prietors— the  lowest  stratum  of  the  middle  class.  Serious, 
modest,  intelligent,  humble,  industrious,  self-respectful,  there 
is,  especially  among  the  women,  a  certain  promise  of  spiritual 
life,  an  unworldliness  guaranteed  by  their  inability  to  partici- 


Devout  Women. 


109 


pate  in  the  pleasures  of  those  above  them  and  their  distaste 
for  the  habits  of  those  below  them,  which  seems  to  say  that 
from  them  is  likely  to  spring  a  new  generation  of  souls,  un- 
spoiled by  empty  metaphysical  subtleties  and  uncorrupted  by 
worldliness,  who,  when  a  larger  freedom  has  broken  their 
chains  of  toil  and  aroused  their  hopes  of  a  career,  and  in  a 
better  day,  when  God  is  no  longer  lost  in  Pantheistic  clouds, 
or  drowned  in  his  own  universe,  and  Christ  has  escaped  from 
the  critics'  nails  and  spear — worse  than  his  crucifiers — may 
revive  Christian  faith  and  worship,  and  bring  back  the  tender 
aspiration,  the  sweet  comfort  and  the  solemn  obligations  that 
flow  from  faith  in  a  living,  personal  God — extra  mundis — and 
in  a  risen  and  ascended  Saviour,  and  the  immortal  life  that 
awaits  his  disciples. 

I  am  aware  that  I  have  given  a  somewhat  dark  view  of 
German  religion,  and  shall  be  glad  to  correct  it  by  brighter 
impressions  hereafter.  Some  scholarly  friends  assure  me 
that  in  the  highest  circles  of  German  learning  and  thought 
positive  Christianity  has  won  the  victory  intellectually  as  well 
as  spiritually  over  Hegelianism. 


XIL 


NUREMBERG. 


Nuremberg,  Bavaria,     } 
August  4,  1867.  ) 

"\X7'E  left  Homburg  after  three  weeks'  stay,  with  great  regret. 
Our  pleasant  lodgings  had  acquired  almost  the  charm 
of  a  home.  To  the  lovely  landscape  on  which  we  had  looked 
for  so  many  tranquil  hours  we  bade  farewell  with  sadness, 
and  to  our  faithful  hosts,  who  had  become  our  friends,  we 
could  not  say  good-bye,  with  the  feeling  that  we  were  never 
to  meet  again,  without  some'  moistening  of  the  eyes. 

Convinced  that  we  had  better  see  the  Tyrolean  Alps  be- 
fore visiting  Switzerland,  we  resisted  the  strong  inclination  to 
follow  the  Rhine  to  Schafifhausen  and  so  enter  that  most  at- 
tractive region,  and  struck  off  from  Frankfort  toward  Nurem- 
berg, on  the  way  to  Munich  and  Innsbruck.  The  daily,  we 
had  almost  said  hourly,  showers  of  the  last  month  have  had 
one  compensation  ;  they  have  kept  the  country  clothed  in  its 
spring  vesture.  Early  May  could  not  present  a  tenderer 
green  in  the  grass,  and  this  is  now  seen  in  all  our  journey,  in 
lovely  juxtaposition  with  yellow  harvest-fields.  We  had  not 
been  prepared  to  find  so  picturesque  and  charming  a  country 
between  Frankfort  and  Nuremberg.  But  the  railroad  follow- 
ing the  streams,  and  specially  the  Main,  presents  a  constant 
succession  of  picturesque  views  which  will  not  permit  the 
foreign  traveler  to  take  his  eyes  off  the  landscape.  We  no- 
ticed that  our  German  fellow-travelers  had  no  difficulty  in 
sleeping  through  it  all.     The  immense  density  of  the  popula- 


Public  Works.  iii 

tion  in  this  heart  of  Germany  has  produced  its  necessary  ef- 
fects upon  the  tillage  and  the  internal  improvements  of  the 
country.  The  drainage,  the  embankments,  the  terracing  of 
the  hill-sides,  the  careful  stoning  of  the  banks  of  the  rivers, 
and  the  costly  improvements  of  the  navigation  of  the  Main, 
with  the  thorough  care  of  the  land — all  indicate  the  worth  of 
the  soil,  the  difficulty  of  making  it  meet  the  wants  of  so  many 
people,  and  the  economy  of  protecting  every  foot  of  it  from 
possible  waste  by  flood,  and  of  reclaiming  every  inch  of  even 
the  most  sterile  declivity.  Men,  women,  children,  cows,  dogs, 
all  must  be  made  productive  in  a  region  where  mouths  are 
so  many  and  land  so  scarce  and  dear. 

The  stoning  up  with  solid  masonry  of  many  of  the  steep 
hill-sides  to  secure  an  uncertain  harvest  of  grapes,  gives 
an  American  such  a  painful  sense  of  the  relation  betrween  la- 
bor and  land  in  this  crowded  country,  that  he  only  wonders 
that  still  more  of  the  Germans  do  not  make  their  way  to 
America,  which,  in  respect  of  space,  must  seem  to  them  a  par- 
radise.  We  do  not  half  realize  as  yet  the  cardinal  advantage 
we  have  over  the  Old  World  in  our  public  lands.  Abundant 
room  has  more  to  do  with  the  success  of  American  institutions 
than  any  one  feature  in  our  national  condition.  Along  the  lit- 
tle stream  from  Aschaffenburg  to  Wtirzburg,  the  tillage  and 
drainage  and  the  management  of  the  brook  all  gave  it  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  kind  of-  baby-house  or  miniature  exhibition, 
in  which  the  object  might  have  been  to  illustrate  in  a  pret- 
ty model  how  perfect  this  kind  of  economy  could  be  made. 
But  when  we  found  it  extending  for  twenty  miles  in  the  same 
fashion  we  gave  up  our  theory.  The  railroads  in  Germany 
are  beautifully  ordered  ;  the  embankments  solid,  the  bridges 
firm,  the  depots  elegant,  the  service  punctual.  At  every  sta- 
tion-house, as  the  express  train  passes,  an  official  clothed  in  a 
red  coat,  or  in  the  uniform  of  the  line,  stands  out  conspicuously. 


112  7'he  Old  World  in  its  Nezv  Face. 

in  military  posture,  his  hand  to  his  cap,  to  sakite  the  engine- 
driver,  and  give  assurance  of  a  clear  track.  The  rate  of  travel 
is  moderate,  but  the  time-table  is  sacredly  kept,  and  the  feel- 
ing of  an  almost  absolute  security  is  quite  delightful  and 
thoroughly  justified  by  the  almost  total  exemption  for  years 
from  any  fatal  accidents.  The  cars,  even  the  second  class,  in 
which  we  always  travel,  are  most  comfortable  and  free  from 
every  objection,  except  that  of  smoking,  which  in  Germany  is 
so  universal  a  custom  that  nobody  seems  to  take  any  ex- 
ception to  it.  There  are,  however,  even  second-class  cars  in 
which  it  is  forbidden. 

Nuremberg,  where  we  have  now  been  two  days,  is,  as  is  well 
known,  the  most  perfect  example  of  middle-age  architect- 
ure now  left  in  the  cities  of  Europe.  A  product  of  the  rising 
power  of  the  Bourgeoisie  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  it  rose  to  eminence  by  the  industry  and  commerce 
of  its  people,  built  its  streets  and  walls,  its  churches  and  tow- 
ers under  their  inspiration,  and  fortunately  has  continued  to 
our  day  substantially  what  they  made  it,  unharmed  and 
unchanged  by  modern  innovations  and  reconstruction.  Its 
streets  have  the  irregularity  of  a  town  built  by  its  inhabitants 
as  their  convenience  prompted,  without  official  direction  or 
restraint.  Its  houses  have  the  individuality  of  their  original 
owners.  The  fortunate  irregularity  of  the  surface,  which  riges 
in  parts  to  precipitous  hills  and  is  everywhere  broken  by  ups 
and  downs,  has  given  a  charming  variety  to  the  streets  and 
put  the  genius  of  architects  to  all  sorts  of  shifts  to  accommo- 
date the  growing  population,  at  a  period  when  the  prosperity 
of  the  city  outstripped  the  compass  of  its  walls,  and  as  yet 
there  was  no  safety  outside  of  them.  Every  inch  of  room, 
therefore,  has  been  economized.  The  Pegnitz,  a  narrow  and 
shallow  mountain  stream,  running  through  the  heart  of  the 
city  in  two  branches,  and  making  an  island  in  the  middle. 


Architecture.  113 

has  made  numerous  bridges  necessary.  The  houses  not  only 
crowd  its  banks,  but  actually  constitute  them,  while  their 
second  story  overhangs  the  river,  making  it  look  more  like 
an  artificial  canal  than  a  living  stream.  The  roofs — built  at 
the  sharpest  angles,  abutting  on  the  streets  in  pyramidal  ga- 
bles, pierced  with  small  windows,  sometimes  in  tiers  of  five  or 
six  stories,  and  all  covered  with  red  tiles,  and  rising  to  differ- 
ent heights  with  varying  surface — present  against  the  horizon 
the  most  irregular  lines  of  jagged  architecture.  Looked 
down  upon,  you  see  a  city  of  tiles  and  sky-lights,  rolling  like  a 
sea  in  waves  of  earthenware,  and  from  my  window  on  the 
Baierischer  Hof  on  the  Pegnitz,  as  I  look  up  to  the  Church  of 
St.  Lawrence,  and  see  the  roofs  of  successive  streets  climbing 
the  rising  grounds,  I  see  an  Alpine  region  in  crockery,  with 
all  the  competition  of  rival  mountain-ranges,  and  the  breaks  of 
the  sky-line  by  aiguilles  and  gaps,  and  all  the  tumult  and  in- 
terlacing lines  that  so  beautifully  torment  the  eye  when  "Alps 
on  Alps  arise." 

The  characteristic  features  of  Nuremberg  are  of  course 
the  same  as  those  of  the  commercial  free  cities  of  Belgium. 
Indeed,  there  are  many  souvenirs  of  Amsterdam  here. 
The  overhanging  top  of  the  gable,  with  its  lifting-tackle ;  the 
protruding  oval  window — here  the  central  feature  of  every 
important  house  —  the  elaborate  finish  of  the  upper  story, 
and  the  windows  at  the  eaves,  are  all  familiar  in  the  Flemish 
towns.  The  perpendicular  finish  in  five  or  six  stories  of  the 
gable-front,  with  rectangular  notches  in  each  story,  seem  to 
have  been  the  favorite  style  of  the  rich  burgesses  ;  and  it  is 
still  preserved.  Many  of  the  finest  of  their  old  mansions  are 
carefully  maintained  in  all  their  old  architectural  lines.  The 
hotel  in  which  I  am  writing  must  have  been  one  of  them. 
Interiorly,  its  court,  built  in  stone,  wears  the  look  of  a  castle. 
Its  inside  architecture  is  costly  in  the  extreme.     A  magnifi- 


114  ^"^^^  Old  World  in  its  Ne7V  Face. 

cent  spiral  staircase  of  stone,  marked  exteriorly  in  carved 
stone,  with  an  ornamental  line  following  the  inner  winding, 
is  worthy  of  a  princely  castle,  while  the  galleries  opening  in 
the  court  have  open-worked  parapets  worthy  of  the  exte- 
rior of  a  cathedral.  The  private  mansion  known  as  the  Pila- 
tus  house  is  still  more  rich.  Indeed,  its  vaulted  court  and 
the  pillars  and  balconies  about  it  make  it  one  of  the  most 
impressive  and  beautiful  examples  of  the  wealth  and  splendor 
of  the  mansions  of  the  merchants  of  the  fifteenth  century  to 
be  found  in  the  world.  One  room,  wainscoted  in  mahogany 
of  the  most  beautiful  cabinet-work,  is  left  to  show  what  the 
interior  finish  of  this  princely  house  was.  The  rest  of  the 
wainscoting,  it  is  sad  to  say,  was  sold  to  an  agent  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  and  transferred  to  one  of  his  palaces. 

The  name  of  Nuremberg  appears  for  the  first  time  in  a  docu- 
ment of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  in  1050.  It  was  first  colo- 
nized by  Slavic  emigrants,  and  was  made  a  city  of  the  German- 
ic Empire  as  early  as  11 12.  An  occasional  residence  of  the 
Emperors,  it  soon  outgrew  its  first  walls,  which  extended 
only  from  the  citadel  to  the  right  bank  of  the  river.  The 
present  walls  date  with  their  towers,  bastions,  and  large 
ditches,  from  1427.  The  four  great  towers  at  the  four  chief 
gates,  originally  polygonal,  were  rounded  a  century  later, 
1552,  it  is  claimed,  by  Albert  Durer.  At  one  period,  it  is  as- 
serted, the  walls  were  strengthened  by  more  than  three 
hundred  towers  ;  about  a  hundred,  including  every  thing  that 
can  be  possibly  covered  by  that  name,  may  be  counted  to- 
day. These  walls  are  still  nearly  complete,  and  form  for  me 
the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  place.  I  have  driven  around 
them  completely,  with  an  ever-increasing  wonder  at  the  la- 
bor and  cost  expended  upon  them,  and  a  deepening  insight 
into  the  state  of  society  that  rendered  them  necessary. 
They  make  the  city  one  great  fortress.     At  one  of  the  chief 


Aficient  Buildings.  115 

gates,  you  drive  in  darkness,  even  at  midday,  through  the 
casemate  that  protected  this  passage,  and  gather  a  formida- 
ble conception  of  the  thickness  and  strength  of  the  walls 
these  wealthy  burghers  thought  it  worth  while  to  throw 
around  their  hoards  of  money  and  luxury.  The  old  citadel, 
often  an  imperial  palace,  and  now  restored  after  various 
baser  uses  to  royal  service,  is  magnificent  in  situation,  com- 
manding the  country  far  and  wide,  and  overlooking  the  city 
it  did  so  much  to  protect.  In  its  court-yard  is  a  tree  said  to 
be  eight  hundred  years  old.  Its  chapels  are  ia  admirable 
preservation,  and  contain  precious  wood-carvings  by  Veit 
Stoss,  while  in  its  small  collection  of  pictures  are  a  few  good 
specimens  of  the  Flemish  school.  In  the  court  is  a  well  of 
eight  feet  diameter,  cut  to  the  depth  of  three  hundred  feet  in 
the  solid  rock.  Letting  down  a  light  to  the  surface,  or  throw- 
ing, by  a  small  mirror,  a  reflection  upon  it,  the  water  is  made 
visible  from  above  at  this  immense  depth.  A  subterranean 
passage  from  near  the  bottom  of  the  well  connected  the 
castle  with  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  a  half-mile  off,  and  furnished 
a  possible  means  of  throwing  relief  into  the  citadel  in  time 
of  siege,  or  of  escape  from  it.  The  presence  of  a  beautiful 
grand  piano,  finished  in  maple,  in  the  sitting-room  of  the 
King,  furnished  a  proof  (as  he  is  here  only  ten  days  in  the 
year)  of  his  devotion  to  music,  a  passion  which  is  not  a  little 
ridiculed  in  his  youthful  majesty,  as  if  it  absorbed  time  due 
to  more  serious  matters.  But  considering  that  Ludwig  II. 
is  only  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  not  yet  married,  we  may 
pardon  him  some  reluctance  to  take  the  reins  of  State  at 
this  eventful  period  of  his  kingdom,  when  even  the  oldest 
monarch  would  have  his  hands  full  to  defend  it  from  Prus- 
sian avidity.  These  Bavarian  kings  have  been  in  our  century 
gentlemen  of  art,  architecture  and  music.  Munich  testifies 
loudly  to  their  taste,  and  we  can  only  hope  that  in  the  ab- 


ii6  The  Old  World  in  its  Netu  Face. 

sence  of  warlike  propensities  or  talents,  they  may  not  love 
worse  things  than  music  and  architecture.  The  young  King 
is  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Prince  Max  of  Bavaria  in  the  au- 
tumn. Their  portraits  hang  together  in  all  the  shop  windows, 
both  likely-looking. 

Nuremberg  was  among  the  earliest  of  the  German  cities 
to  adopt  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  and  it  did  it  so 
thoroughly  that  small  traces  of  Catholic  influence  have  been 
found  there  for  two  centuries  and  more.  The  original  hold 
of  the  old  faith  is,  however,  testified  in  the  beautiful  churches 
which  still  remain  full  of  Catholic  emblems  and  workman- 
ship ;  but  converted  to  Protestant  use,  if  we  ought  not  rather 
to  say  to  Protestant  neglect.  As  precious  historical  monu- 
ments they  are  greatly  valued  and  carefully  preserved,  but  as 
churches  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  in  considerable  use. 
It  is  indeed  melancholy  to  look  upon  the  glorious  architecture 
of  Saint  Lawrence  or  St.  Sebald — the  two  chief  churches  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  Pegnitz,  giving  their  names  to  the  two 
great  divisions  of  the  city — and  to  observe  how  feebly  the 
Protestant  life  of  Nuremberg  animates  their  majestic  frames. 
Once  they  throbbed  with  fullness  of  life.  The  old  Catholic 
faith,  which  lifted  their  costly  stones  into  order,  decorated 
them  with  elaborate  altars,  and  filled  them  with  sculptures 
and  pictures  from  the  hands  of  native  artists,  who  drew  inspi- 
ration from  their  own  religious  convictions.  Throngs  of  de- 
vout worshipers  breathed  their  incense  and  bent  at  their 
altars.  Protestantism  came  and  drove  priest  and  ritual  from 
these  gates,  and  doubtless  at  first  expelled  crucifix  and  altar, 
while  it  set  up  its  own  simple  worship  with  an  intense  enjoy- 
ment of  its  bare  but  sincere  doctrines  and  forms.  At  first 
probably  there  was  little  falling  off  in  the  congregations  that 
gathered  at  these  shrines.  The  Catholics  becoming  Protest- 
ants burned  with  zeal  and  faith,  and  laid  the  offering  of  new 


Religious  Indifference.  117 

and  fresh  convictions  upon  the  old  hearths,  where  their  ancient 
devoutness   had   smoked.     Now,  alas,  another  change   has 
come  over  the  people.     Victorious,  free  from  persecution,  and 
able  themselves  io  be  persecutors,  if  they  had  the  zeal  to 
prompt  that  pernicious  excess  of  feeling  for  their  own  con- 
victions, Protestantism  clothes  itself  in  political  and  social, 
not  in  religious,  forms,  and  wears  the  appearance  of  Christian 
apathy  or  indifference.     I  could  not  learn  and  I  saw  no  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  of  any  living  spirit  of  faith  and  piety 
in  the  community,  where  the  splendid  churches  invite  worship- 
ers, but  are  left  almost  wholly  to  women  and  children,  or  to 
very  humble  people.     The  intelligence,  the  wealth  of  this  still 
flourishing  and  important  city,  if  I  am  rightly  informed  by 
citizens  of  the  place,  is  characteristically  indiiferent  to  Chris- 
tian worship.     It  is  conceded  generally  that  positive  faith  in 
Christianity  as  a  divine  institution  and  a  public  religion  is 
widely  declining  in  Germany ;  and  Nuremberg,  prosperous, 
commercial  and  independent,  is  certainly  a  strong  witness  to 
the  decay  of  Christian  worship  and  the  prevalence  of  natural- 
istic ideas  of  religion.     A  candid  and  sober  citizen,  himself 
apparently  of  that  opinion,  spoke  of  doubts  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  a  personal  God,  as  very  prevalent  and  on  the  steady 
increase.     He  thought  a  faith  in  immortality  of  some  kind 
less  shaken ;  but  surely  it  can  not  long  survive  the  doubts 
which  beset  the  cardinal  doctrine  alike  of  natural  and  re- 
vealed religion — the  being  of  a  personal  God.     It  is  no  won- 
der that  in  this  state  of  things  the  old  and  magnificent  church- 
es of  Nuremberg  seem  the  empty  husks  of  a  faith  that  has 
withered  and  turned  to  dust.     Protestantism  rattles  like  a  dry 
kernel  in  its  shell  within  these  vast  walls. 

There  are  still  six  thousand  Catholics  in  a  population  of 
about  seventy  thousand,  and  they  have  yet  in  their  hands  one 
or  more  of  the  smaller  and  more  ancient  churches,  especial- 


ii8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ly  Notre  Dame  (the  Frauen  Kirche)  which  has  a  lovely  porch 
and  some  valuable  carvings  and  pictures  within.  Saint  Se- 
bald  is  said  to  have  been  begun  in  the  tenth  century,  and 
contains  an  iron  font  of  great  antiquity  in  which  King  Wen- 
ceslaus  of  Bohemia  was  christened  in  136 1.  Some  of  its  al- 
tars were  adorned  by  Cranach,  Adam  Krafft,  and  Albert 
Durer.  Its  chief  ornament,  however,  is  the  sepulchre  of  St. 
Sebaldus,  the  work  of  the  great  Nuremberg  founder,  Peter 
Vischer,  on  which  he  and  his  five  sons  were  engaged  for  ten 
years — 1508-15 19.  It  rests  on  twelve  snails,  and  around 
its  sides,  shaped  like  a  temple  of  perhaps  ten  feet  long  by 
four  broad,  are  arranged  exquisite  statues  in  bronze  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles — all  first-rate  works  of  art.  Above  them,  in 
very  diminished  size,  are  twelve  figures  of  Christian  fathers, 
while  the  infant  Christ  surmounts  the  whole,  holding  the 
world  in  his  triiynphant  hand.  The  sarcophagus  within  is 
wrought  with  exquisite  art,  in  what  looks  like  silver  discolor- 
ed. On  the  high  altar  are  three  figures  in  wood,  carved  by 
the  illustrious  Veit  Stoss.  Adam  Krafft  has  a  stone,  "  Jesus 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives,"  on  the  outside  of  the  church, 
which  has  lost  much  of  its  original  power  through  the  decay 
of  time.  A  lamp  still  burning  is  supported  by  a  fund  left  b^^ 
the  first  Baron  of  Tucher  in  1326,  and  the  Protestants  on 
taking  possession  of  the  church  have  respected  the  will  and 
bequest  of  the  founder,  whose  family  had  long  continued 
benefactors  of  the  church,  which  is  full  of  their  memorials. 
The  bottle  of  oil  from  which  the  lamp  is  recruited  stands 
near,  and  the  boast  is  (believe  it  who  can)  that,  in  all  these 
centuries  of  revolution  and  change,  the  light  has  never  gone 
out !  The  organ,  still  in  use  and  of  a  beautiful  frame,  was 
built  in  1444. 

The  Church  of  St.  Lawrence  was  built  between  1278  and 
M77)  is  322  feet  long  and  104  broad,  and  presents  Gothic 


Works  of  Art.  119 

architecture  in  all  its  stages,  from  the  period  of  its  greatest 
purity  to  the  time  of  its  greatest  decline.  The  glass  is  spe- 
cially fine  in  color,  and  belongs  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century ;  the  general  effect  of  the  church  is  profoundly  im- 
pressive, despite  the  partially  dismantled  condition  in  which 
it  is — which  is  less  than  could  be  expected.  Protestantism 
has  restored  many  of  the  old  Catholic  symbols  in  these  tol- 
erant or  lukewarm  days,  and  the  church,  with  its  nine-tenth 
Catholic  and  one-tenth  Protestant  look,  wears  the  appear- 
ance of  being  kept  for  exhibition  and  not  for  use.  The 
special  ornament  of  the  church  is  the  famous  Tabernacle  or 
Sacrament-house,  the  work  of  Adam  Krafft.  It  rests  upon 
three  kneeling  statues,  one  being  Krafift  himself  and  the 
other  two  his  sons,  who  labored  with  him  for  six  years  at 
this  work  of  love.  It  is  divided  into  four  members,  and 
rises  sixt}'-three  feet  in  a  pyramid  of  exquisitely  carved  open- 
work of  stone,  ending  in  a  bishop's  cross.  The  figures  that 
support  the  chest,  the  columns  and  garlands  of  flowers,  and 
all  the  details  are  so  delicate,  that  it  has  been  said  of  Adam 
Krafft,  that  he  had  the  art  of  softening  stone  and  then  of 
impressing  upon  it  any  form  his  imagination  called  for. 

Nuremberg  possessed,  at  one  time,  a  most  extraordinary 
number  of  artistic  geniuses.  Albert  Durer,  architect,  sculp- 
tor and  painter,  a  man  not  unworthy  by  the  variety  of  his 
gifts  and  the  dignity  of  his  character  to  be  compared  with 
Michael  Angelo  ;  Adam  Krafft,  a  sculptor  of  great  boldness 
and  great  patience,  who  wrought  in  a  sad  sincerit}^  whatever 
he  wrought  at  all  ;  Vischer,  the  founder  ;  Veit  Stoss,  the  chisel- 
er  in  wood,  and  Hirschvogel,  the  painter  on  glass,  all  names 
well  known  to-day,  were,  in  the  first  third  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  lending  their  united  powers  to  this  favored  city. 
The  brothers  Schonhofer,  1361,  had  left  in  "The  Beautiful 
Fountain  "  a  splendid  incentive  to  the  genius  of  their  succes- 


I20  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

sors  in  iron-work.  It  is  with  Durer  only,  however,  that  pos- 
terity keeps  up  a  close  and  ever-increasing  acquaintance. 
A  society  exists  in  Nuremberg  devoted  to  the  memory  of  his 
genius.  His  house  is  in  their  charge.  His  best  portrait  is 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  family  for  whom  it  was  painted,  and 
is  a  wonderfully  living  work,  fresh  as  if  painted  yesterday. 
He  seems  indeed  always  the  most  spiritual  of  all  that  won- 
derful Flemish  school,  who  made  thought  and  feeling  take 
the  place  of  grace  and  loveliness,  and  gave  to  painting  the 
severity  of  the  unfading  character  of  sculpture.  If  they  had 
worked  in  enamel,  their  colors  could  hardly  have  been  more 
permanent,  their  surface  more  transparent ;  and  they  had  very 
generally  the  ideas  and  feelings  worthy  of  the  immortal  touch 
of  their  pencils.  I  visited  Albert  Durer's  grave  with  pro- 
found interest.  He  lies  in  the  midst  of  hundreds  buried 
like  himself  under  the  heaviest  monoliths  I  remember  ever 
to  have  seen  used  as  grave-stones — a  simple,  solid,  immova- 
ble stone,  with  a  plate  of  bronze  let  into  the  top,  on  which 
his  histor}^  is  briefly  engraved.  On  three  sides  of  the  block, 
the  single  words,  Painter,  Sculptor,  Architect,  are  cut. 

In  the  modern  part  of  the  cemetery,  much  like  our  own, 
there  is  a  house,  pleasantly  arranged  amid  flower-beds  and 
shrubs,  to  which  all  the  dead  are  at  once  carried,  after  being 
laid  out,  and  there  placed  on  beds,  each  with  a  bell-pull  so 
connected  with  the  hand,  that  the  least  motion  of  the  sup- 
posed corpse  on  reviving,  must  arouse  the  attendant  and 
bring  instant  attention.  All  this  humane  precaution  has 
never  yet  been  rewarded  with  a  single  call  upon  its  watchful- 
ness. Once,  however,  in  a  case  where  the  deceased  had 
died  of  dropsy,  the  subsidence  of  the  water  caused  a  fall  of 
the  arm  which  rested  on  the  stomach.  The  bell  rang,  and 
the  attendant  who  had  been  watching  for  years  for  the  sound, 
when  it  came  was  so  frightened  that  he  ran  from  his  post  and 


Antique  Curiosities.  121 

alarmed  the  neighbors,  who,  after  some  time,  rallied  and  dis- 
covered the  occasion  of  the  alarm.  This  method  of  guard- 
ing against  premature  burial  is  quite  common  on  the  Conti- 
nent. It  seems,  however,  attended  by  too  many  inconven- 
iences, and  to  have  too  little  occasion  in  any  real  uncertainty 
in  the  evidences  of  actual  death,  to  be  worth  adopting  in 
America,  where  it  may,  in  passing,  be  said,  that  burials  are 
commonly  much  too  early  for  decency,  not  to  speak  of  more 
sacred  reasons. 

There  are  very  valuable  collections  of  middle-age  antiqui- 
ties in  Nuremberg,  especially  one  in  an  old  cloister,  under 
the  control  of  a  private  association,  which  shows  an  admira- 
ble spirit  and  skill  in  getting  together  in  classes  whatever  il- 
lustrates, in  the  most  lively  way,  the  fashions  of  the  old  time. 
The  history  of  printing  and  engraving  is  excellently  illustrated 
here.  A  truly  antique  collection  of  musical  instruments 
occupies  one  room,  where  various  of  those  monochord  viols 
are  seen,  to  which  the  monks  droned  their  vespers.  A  curi- 
ous instrument  in  which  the  bow  was  applied  to  wire  pegs  of 
different  lengths — still  not  wholly  out  of  tune — is  to  be  seen 
here  ;  a  parlor-organ,  worked  by  hand-bellows,  with  a  quart  or 
two  of  wind  at  a  blast,  and  a  spinnet  too  complicated  and 
funny  to  be  described.  After  seeing  the  tournament  in  most 
elaborate  plaster  on  the  ceiling  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  (in  one 
of  the  upper  galleries),  it  was  gratifying  to  see  the  very  armor 
and  the  very  lances  with  which  these  jousts  were  made. 

Here,  and  still  more  plainly  at  another  dungeon  of  the 
city,  we  saw  the  very  instruments  of  torture  which  are  de- 
scribed in  all  histories  of  the  Inquisition,  but  which  most  read- 
ers charitably  ascribe  to  Protestant  exaggeration  or  credulity. 
But  here  in  actual  wood  and  iron,  and  in  all  their  horrible 
deformity  were  the  rack,  with  its  pulleys  for  stretching  the 
joints  a.sunder,  and  its  rollers  of  knotted  wood  to  bruise  and 

F 


122  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

mash  the  body  laid  upon  it.  These  hellish  inventions  of  big- 
otry I  will  not  farther  describe,  excepting  one,  found  only 
twenty  years  back  in  a  vault  which  had  been  carefully  stoned 
up,  and  called  "  the  young  maiden."  It  is  an  image  of  wood, 
shaped  to  the  human  body,  which  closed  looks  more  like  a 
mummy-case  erect  than  any  thing  else.  Its  front  opens, 
however,  like  folding-doors  on  hinges.  These  doors  are 
armed  with  sharp  spikes  of  steel,  of  perhaps  eight  inches 
long,  two  being  in  the  head,  and  twenty  others  in  other  vital 
parts  of  the  body.  The  victim,  bound,  was  forced  into  this 
box,  and  the  doors  suddenly  shut  upon  him  and  held  by  a 
vice.  Pierced  by  twenty  mortal  wounds  he  perished,  and  just 
beneath  the  instrument  of  his  execution  opened  a  well  into 
which  his  mangled  body  dropped  to  make  room  for  the  next 
victim.  The  place  of  this  torture  was  many  rods  under 
ground,  where  sound  or  light  could  not  come,  and  it  was  real- 
ly some  relief  to  the  terror  of  the  recollection  to  reflect  how 
impossible  such  cruelties  would  be  in  civilized  countries  in 
our  own  day.  If  we  have  lost  somewhat  of  the  old  faith  and 
the  genius  that  accompanied  it,  we  have  certainly  gained  vir- 
tues and  charities  it  knew  little  of,  and  learned  to  hate  cus- 
toms and  practices  it  found  very  tolerable.  Would  it  not  be 
well  to  inquire,  however,  whether  in  the  American  treatment 
of  the  insane,  there  is  not  still  in  many  county  hospitals,  spite 
of  Miss  Dix's  life-long  crusade  against  such  barbarities,  con- 
duct as  atrocious  for  our  age  as  the  tortures  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion were  for  the  sixteenth  century'  ? 

Nuremberg  is  on  the  Ludwig  canal,  connecting  the  waters 
of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube.  It  has  an  important  trade  in 
looking-glasses,  iron  and  brass  ware,  manufactured  leather, 
gloves,  papier-mache  and  toys,  with  America.  It  is  a  purely 
trading  community — with  no  nobles,  and  little  political  stir — 
but  independent  in  spirit  and  alive. 


XIII. 

MUNICH. 


Munich,  August  s,  1867. 


TpHE  modern  air  of  Munich,  by  no  means  a  new  town,  is 
very  striking  after  the  antiquated  aspect  of  Nuremberg, 
which,  old  as  it  looks  and  is,  possesses  a  thoroughly  modern 
spirit  Munich,  on  the  contrary,  is  largely  Roman  Catholic 
and  unprogressiv^e  in  political  temper  and  policy.  Here  the 
old  Church  seems  still  alive,  and  its  temples  swarm  with  wor- 
shipers. In  the  Frauen  Kirche  (Notre  Dame),  an  immense 
church  of  brick,  ugly  as  possible  without,  but  grand  within 
from  its  height  and  lofty  columns  and  rich  decorations,  I  at- 
tended mass  yesterday  in  the  midst  of  a  great  congregation 
of  devout  worshipers.  Peasants  in  picturesque  costumes — 
the  women  with  bonnets  that  defy  description,  some  in  vel- 
vet mitres,  others  in  gold  lace  snoods,  just  covering  the  back 
hair,  the  men  in  jackets  and  waistcoats  covered  with  silver 
buttons  —  formed  an  interesting  portion  of  the  assembly. 
But  the  congregation  was  wonderfully  diversified,  containing 
rich  and  poor,  beggars  and  beaux,  young  children  and  ex- 
tremely old  men  and  women.  The  absence  of  any  special 
fashion  is  a  great  relief  in  Continental  gatherings.  There  is 
none  of  that  monotonous  adherence  to  a  freakish  pattern 
which  gives  us  in  America  five  hundred  women  at  a  party 
with  their  hair  dressed  all  horribly  alike,  and  their  dresses 
cut  by  one  pair  of  scissors  after  one  tasteless  model.  The 
chief  charm  of  the  cathedral  service  was  the  music,  from  a 


124  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

full  choir,  accompanied  by  the  organ  and  a  complete  orches- 
tra. They  sung  the  music  of  Pergolese  and  Palestrina,  and 
never  have  I  realized  so  perfectly  what  sacred  music  was  and 
ever  should  be.  No  solos,  no  secular  airs,  no  light  and  mer- 
etricious ornament,  unspiritualized  this  music.  It  was  strict- 
ly religious  in  origin,  adaptation,  style  and  execution — a  fit 
concurrence  and  succession  of  tones  to  bear  the  prayers  and 
aspirations  of  human  souls  up  to  their  divine  and  all-har- 
monious source.  The  music  of  the  modern  Church  is  char- 
acteristically barbarous,  and  wholly  unworthy  its  own  genius 
and  mission,  or  the  civilization  of  which  it  forms  a  part.  It  is 
either  a  dull,  monotonous  and  inartistic  droning  of  hymns — 
not  one  in  ten  of  which  has  any  lyrical  quality — by  a  feeble 
choir  or  an  undrilled  congregation  ;  or  else  an  operatic  per- 
formance, in  which  strains  associated  with  the  capers  of  the 
ballet  and  the  gayeties  of  the  theatre  are  wrenched  from  their 
proper  service  without  being  successfully  accommodated  to 
any  other.  I  verily  believe  it  would  be  better  to  do  without 
any  music  than  to  continue  these  wretched  performances, 
full  of  worldliness,  and  directly  antipodal  in  their  whole  effect 
to  the  true  ends  of  worship,  and  even  the  general  aim  of  the 
pulpit.  The  better  they  are  as  mere  vocal  displays  the  worse 
they  are  as  religious  exercises.  There  is,  however,  no  incom- 
patibility between  the  most  artistic  music  and  the  most  sincere 
religious  praise.  But  religious  music  must  be  written  by  re- 
ligious men  for  religious  purposes,  and  then  rendered  in  a 
religious  spirit.  That  this  can  be  done  is  abundantly  proved 
by  the  immense  quantity  of  such  music  now  in  possession 
both  of  the  Catholic  and  the  English  Churches.  How  people 
acquainted  with  Handel  and  Haydn,  Purcell,  Bach,  Pleyel  and 
Mozart,  not  to  speak  of  names  before  mentioned,  can  con- 
tinue contented  with  our  modern  patchwork  called  sacred 
music  or  psalm  tunes,  is  marvelous.     One  of  the  greatest  of 


Music  and  Beer.  125 

modern  mistakes  is  that  of  supposing  that  good  words  will 
consecrate  bad  and  undevout  music.  Religious  music  is  es- 
sentially independent  of  words,  its  proper  language  being 
tones.  Its  meaning  lies  in  its  expression,  and  its  proper  ac- 
companiment is  the  prayerful  or  worshipful  sentiment  it  awak- 
ens in  the  hearer's  heart.  The  words  are  usually  merely  in 
the  way,  and  except  in  the  original  service  they  may  now  and 
then  have  rendered  of  moving  the  composer's  mind,  are  near- 
ly useless.  Above  all,  until  we  cease  to  marry  together  ideas 
(or  w'ords)  and  sounds  not  originally  pledged  and  adapted  to 
each  other,  we  shall  have  that  hodge-podge  which  now  occu- 
pies and  disgraces  the  place  that  really  belongs  to  sacred 
music  in  Christian  worship. 

I  heard  a  military  mass  in  St.  Michael's  a  few  hours  later, 
which  was  truly  solemn.  It  was  very  widely  distinguished 
from  a  military  mass  I  attended  in  the  Church  of  the  Hotel 
des  Invalides  in  Paris,  a  few  weeks  ago.  There  an  excellent 
brass  band  accompanied  the  altar  service  with  operatic  airs 
skillfully  performed  ;  here  a  still  better  band  performed  truly 
religious  music  in  a  way  to  thrill  and  purify  and  soften  the 
soul,  and  send  it  up  in  thanksgivings  and  yearnings  toward 
its  Maker. 

The  road-sides  all  the  way  from  Nuremberg  to  Munich  tell 
you  that  you  are  in  the  heart  of  the  beer  country  of  Germany. 
Here  the  hop  fairly  beats  the  vine.  Instead  of  wine  bottles, 
casks  and  m"ugs,  glasses  of  beer  meet  the  eye  at  every  corner 
and  at  every  railroad  station.  The  abundance  of  this  pale 
and  pleasant  drink,  light  and  nutritious,  called  Bavarian  beer, 
is  something  astonishing.  Last  evening,  for  instance,  I  think 
I  must  have  met  a  thousand  people  in  the  English  Garden 
(a  mile  out  of  Munich)  at  Gungl's  open-air  concert — men, 
women  and  children  of  the  better  class.  I  doubt  if,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  visitors  like  ourselves,  there  was  a  man, 


126  The  Old  World  in  its  Ntiu  Face. 

woman  or  child  that  did  not  drink  at  least  a  pint,  and  most 
of  them  from  one  to  two  quarts,  of  beer.  They  sat,  indeed, 
perhaps  three  hours,  listening  to  music  and  slowly  drinking 
glass  after  glass  of  their  mild  potation.  It  costs  7^  kreutzers 
a  mass  (that  is  a  quart  mug),  about  5  cents,  and  can  not  be 
purchased  at  retail  at  less  than  6  kreutzers  per  quart,  the 
whole  profit  of  the  retail  sale  being  about  one  kreutzer  per 
glass  and  the  saving  made  by  the  fact  that  the  foam  in  each 
quart  mug  lengthens  out  the  measure  of  the  barrel  about  a 
sixth  part.  About  three  quarts  a  day  is  the  average  drink 
of  a  sober  workman,  and  with  this  he  requires  only  one  solid 
meal.  But  twice  as  much,  and  even  four  or  five  times  as 
much  as  this  is  not  uncommon,  and  many  of  the  people  are 
kept  heavy  and  poor  by  the  abuse  of  this  beverage.  The 
general  attachment  to  it  is  something  half  amusing,  half  sad- 
dening. The  Bavarians  will  stand  any  governmental  abuse, 
it  is  said,  except  a  rise  in  the  beer-tax.  That  has  really  made 
and  often  threatened  a  revolution.  It  is  said  that  the  brewers 
are  putting  less  malt  in  their  beer,  and  that  the  effect  has  been 
to  increase  the  use  of  eau-de-vie.  Drunkenness  is  almost  un- 
known, but  systematic  hard-swilling  is  terribly  common. 
The  effect  of  this  beer  is  very  obvious  in  the  paunchy  ponder- 
osity of  most  of  the  older  men,  and  it  tells  on  their  noses  as 
well  as  their  stomachs,  and  does  not  improve  the  German 
face,  never  very  handsome.  There  is,  however,  a  delightful 
cordiality  and  genialness  in  their  manners,  and  a  quiet  en- 
joyment of  leisure,  chat  and  music  which  is  very  refreshing 
to  see.  Their  politeness  is  almost  ludicrous  in  its  painstak- 
ing excess.  They  bow  and  touch  hats,  and  bow  again  and 
uncover,  and  cover  again  and  then  bow  once  more,  and  uncov- 
er, finally,  smiling  most  deferential  and  benigant  smiles  mean- 
while, until  you  begin  to  suspect  it  is  a  joke.  But  there  is 
nothing  less  jocose  or  more  serious  than  German  etiquette. 


Palaces  of  Art.  127 

They  can  not  put  Martin  Luther  into  their  Walhalla  without 
belittling  the  name  with  his  title  of  Dr.  Martin  Luther  ! 
The  definition  of  a  hat  in  German  must  be  not  a  thing  to 
cover,  but  a  thing  wherewith  to  uncover,  the  head. 

Munich  is  a  beautiful  city,  and  quite  astonishing  as  the 
capital  of  so  small  a  power ;  for  in  public  buildings,  and  in 
galleries,  libraries  and  theatres,  it  is  second  only  to  Paris. 
It  is,  like  modern  Paris,  a  city  built  essentially  by  one  man, 
and  built  to  be  looked  at.  Bavaria  has  about  5,000,000 
people.  Munich  has  160,000,  of  whom  only  16,000  are 
Protestant.  But  the  palaces  here,  especially  of  art,  are 
worthy  of  London,  and  it  will  be  a  great  while  before  Lon- 
don will  equal  Munich  in  statuary  and  pictures.  How  so 
small  a  kingdom  has  furnished  the  means  of  so  lavish  an  out- 
lay in  the  great  structures  devoted  to  art  and  literature,  and 
in  the  magnificent  collections  of  treasures  they  contain,  is 
inexplicable.  Bavaria  has  possessed,  in  the  Wittelsbach 
house  of  sovereigns,  a  royal  family  equally  distinguished  for 
bigoted  Roman  Catholic  and  Austrian  sympathies,  with  a 
high  sense  of  their  prerogative,  and  a  heart  devoted  to  the 
fine  arts.  Ludwig  I.,  the  grandfather  of  the  present  King, 
who  abdicated  in  the  revolution  of  1848  in  a  combination  of 
follies  in  which  Lola  Montez  had  a  conspicuous  part,  is  still 
alive,  and  still  a  devoted  patron  of  literature,  art  and  music. 
A  poet  himself,  he  is  a  true  connoisseur  in  art,  and  in  his 
reign  laid  the  foundations  of  the  architectural  beauty  and 
artistic  wealth  of  Munich.  He  still  owns  in  his  private  ca- 
pacity the  New  Pinacothek.  He  has  lately  ordered  from 
modern  artists  a  hundred  of  the  largest-sized  historical  pict- 
ures, for  a  building  now  erecting  to  receive  them.  His  son, 
Maximilian,  who  died  much  regretted  three  years  ago,  fol- 
lowed up  his  father's  plans,  with  even  greater  vigor.  The 
street  named  for  him  is  a  wonderful  monument  of  his  energv. 


128-  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

boldness  and  success.  Ludwig  Street — his  father's — ends  in 
a  magnificent  trio  of  temples  designed  to  exhibit  each  a  strict 
example  of  the  Doric,  Ionic  and  Corinthian  styles.  The 
triumphal  arch  surmounted  by  Schwanthaler's  magnificent 
bronze  group — "  Bavaria  driving  a  chariot  drawn  by  four 
horses  " — is  one  of  the  most  gigantic  and  imposing  pieces  of 
modern  architecture.  Indeed,  wherever  you  turn  in  Munich 
you  come  upon  some  reproduction  or  imitation  of  world-re- 
nowned buildings,  or  style  of  decoration  peculiar  to  other 
countries.  As  the  Palace  Museum  contains  admirable  mod- 
els in  cork  of  all  the  great  temples  in  Rome,  Athens,  Paestum, 
so  the  city  itself  is  a  museum  of  copies  in  full  size  of  the  most 
celebrated  buildings  and  styles.  Of  course  the  general  effect 
is  much  that  of  the  mongrel  collection  of  Greek,  Roman, 
Christian,  Pagan,  Oriental  and  Western  models  in  the  outer 
court  of  the  French  "  Exposition."  Stumbling  at  one  time 
on  a  Greek  temple,  and  next  on  an  Egyptian  idol,  faced  here 
by  a  wall  painted  in  Pompeiian  fresco,  and  there  opposite  by 
another  in  blank  and  modern  mortar — you  are  as  much  puz- 
zled to  know  where  you  are,  as  you  would  be  to  know  your 
friends  at  a  masquerade.  The  absence  of  a  numerous  and 
lively  population,  or  of  an  active  and  earnest  business,  neu- 
tralizes very  much  the  general  splendor  of  the  public  build- 
ings. The  immense  post-ofiice,  war-ofiice  and  palace,  and 
other  public  structures  provoke  a  constant  comparison  with 
the  small  amount  and  importance  of  the  business  they  repre- 
sent. Ruins  have  a  significance  and  interest  of  their  own, 
but  empty,  deserted,  or  quarter-part  occupied  buildings,  fresh, 
splendid  and  costly,  are  merely  melancholy  impertinences  and 
monuments  of  wasted  ambition.  The  same  criticism  is  to  be 
made  of  the  great  statue  of  "  Bavaria" — the  Colossus  of  mod- 
ern  times.  Fifty-six  feet  high,  and  placed  on  a  pedestal  of 
fifty  feet,  this  immense  woman  in  bronze,  from  an  admirable 


Sculpt  tor.  129 

site,  two  miles  out  of  the  city,  overlooks  the  capital  and  the 
distant  Bavarian  mountains  and  no  small  part  of  the  whole 
Bavarian  kingdom.     The  artist,  Schwanthaler,  has  managed 
the  gigantic  work  with  great  skill,  and  Miller,  the  celebrated 
founder,  has  cast  it  with  admirable  success.     It  is  indeed  a 
beautiful  as  well  as  colossal  work ;  but  in  its  signification  it 
fails  to  win  the  sympathy  of  the  stranger,  who  asks.  What  is 
little  Bavaria,  that  she  should  swell  up  to  this  monstrous  self- 
assertion  ?      France,  or  Russia,  or  America  might  take  on 
such  a  s}TTibolic  self-representation  without  provoking  the 
feelinof  of  the  ludicrous,  but  not  Bavaria.     The  collection  of 
busts  in  the  open  gallery,  around  the  statue — which  is  fine- 
ly conceived — is  an  interesting  illustration  of  the  history  of 
Bavarian  genius  and  patriotism,  and  of  the  Catholic  taste 
of  Maximilian,  the  late  King.      Statesmen,  soldiers,  artists, 
priests — all  the  really  conspicuous  and  useful  citizens  of  the 
country  in  its  long  career — are  here  represented  in  colossal 
busts,  ranged  in  two  rows,  against  the  wall  of  the  open  gal- 
lery.    They  can  not  fail  to  enrich  the  common  air  of  Bavaria, 
which  blows  freely  upon  this  open  court  of  genius  and  worth. 
I  have  not  seen  the  "Walhalla  near  Ratisbon  ;  but  there  the 
late  King  has  attempted  on  a  still  larger  scale  to  show  his 
appreciation  of  great  men,  by  bringing  into  one  temple  the 
chief  benefactors  of  Germany  and  mankind.     It  is  impossible 
not  to  admire  the  large-mindedness  of  so  liberal  and  culti- 
vated a  prince,  even  if  we  see  something  a  little  presumptuous 
and  inappropriate  in  his  endeavors.     It  is  hard  to  find  words 
to  convey  an  idea  of  the  wealth  of  the  Munich  Gallery  devoted 
to  the  old  masters,  and  known  as  the  Old  Pinacothek.     Its 
affluence,  its  admirable  management,  its  inexhaustible  treas- 
ures, must  be  seen  to  be  credited.     If  one  could  animate  its 
figures,  Munich  would  not  want  population.     I  have  not  yet 
seen  the  Dresden  Gallery,  and  it  is  many  years  (nineteen) 

F  2 


130  The  Old  World  in  its  N'ew  Face. 

since  I  saw  the  galleries  at  Florence  and  the  Vatican ;  but 
certainly  the  Munich  Gallery,  however  surpassed  it  may  be 
by  these  others,  is  for  the  time  being  of  overwhelming  interest 
and  satisfactoriness.  Unequaled  in  its  collection  of  the 
Flemish  and  old  German  schools,  here  are  found  superb 
Rembrandts  and  elegant  Vandykes,  a  whole  room  devoted 
to  some  of  Rubens's  greatest  pictures,  the  first  satisfactory  ex- 
amples of  Murillo,  a  few  delightful  Raphaels,  and,  above  all, 
some  tender,  holy  examples  of  Perugino's  exquisite  purity  and 
devoutness.  There  is  enough  in  this  gallery  to  account  fully 
for  the  presence  of  the  thousand  artists  said  now  to  be  living 
in  Munich.  Munich  is  celebrated  for  its  cheapness  as  a 
residence  ;  but  certainly  its  hotels  do  not  favor  its  reputation. 
They  are  excellent,  but  dear. 

The  collection  of  modern  pictures  in  the  New  Pinacothek 
is  a  very  interesting  and  wonderful  one,  and  places  Germany 
far  before  all  modern  countries  in  the  courage  and  learning, 
the  inspiration  and  mechanical  skill  of  its  artists.  What 
country  can  give  us  living  or  lately  living  names  as  historical 
painters  worthy  to  be  set  beside  those  of  Overbeck,  Corne- 
lius Hess,  Schraudolph,  Schnorr,  Kaulbach  ? 

I  had  long  had  the  greatest  admiration  for  the  genius  of 
Kaulbach,  as  exhibited  in  his  illustrations  of  German  poetry, 
mythology  and  history.  To  the  penetrative  intelligence  and 
spirituality  which  marks  German  art,  he  seemed  to  add  a  grace 
and  elegance  commonly  wanting  in  it.  His  great  affluence 
and  facility  have  not  made  him  careless,  and  every  thing 
from  his  pencil  is  delicate,  refined  and  exquisite,  without  lack- 
ing dignity  and  force.  He  seems  to  possess  a  most  tender 
appreciation  of  childhood  and  womanhood,  and  no  modern 
artist,  to  my  eye,  throws  such  grace  and  elegance  about  the 
human  figure.  It  was  like  meeting  an  old  friend  to  see  the 
great  artist  in  his  studio.      His  manly  form  is  robust  and 


Kaulbach.  131 

erect,  the  bloom  of  health  is  in  his  cheek,  gentleness  and  pow- 
er in  his  eye,  ease  and  grace  in  his  manners,  and  all  softened 
by  seventy  years  of  an  existence  which  can  have  had  few  idle 
hours.  He  sat,  as  we  entered,  before  his  easel,  at  work  upon 
the  drawing  of  the  loves  of  two  characters,  in  one  of  the  very 
old  German  minnesingers.  The  youth  and  sentiment  of  the 
picture  suggested  the  power  which  genius  possesses  of  carry- 
ing its  own  youth  with  it  into  extremest  age ;  and  Kaulbach 
is  really  as  young  as  ever  in  feeling  and  in  the  nature  and 
handling  of  his  subjects.  He  showed  us  several  of  his  more 
recent  pictufes,  and  especially  one  elegant  portrait  of  a  Co- 
penhagen merchant,  full  of  power  and  beauty.  He  talks  with 
freedom  and  charming  insight  about  America,  which  interest- 
ed him,  as  it  does  most  Germans,  who  seem  the  only  people 
capable  of  looking  at  countries  with  reference  to  the  ideas 
they  stand  for,  and  their  relations  to  human  progress.  He 
bade  us  not  to  expect  a  period  of  art  in  America  until  we 
had  got  farther  through  with  the  great  and  heroic  period 
which  gives  art  its  inspiration  and  its  subjects.  He  thought 
the  late  American  war  would  in  some  future  time  be  a  prolific 
source  of  artistic  ideas  and  themes ;  but  artistic  eras  come  : 
they  can  not  be  made. 

The  library,  the  richest,  after  Paris,  in  the  world,  contains 
over  eight  hundred  thousand  volumes,  in  eighty-six  rooms, 
and  twenty-two  thousand  MSS.  The  books  are  admirably 
arranged  in  the  alphabetical  order  of  their  author's  names, 
each  nation  by  itself  The  American  books  are  separated 
from  the  English,  and  fill  a  large-sized  apartment.  I  could 
hardly  have  believed  that  we  had  written  so  many  since  that 
short  time  ago  when  it  was  asked,  without  malice,  "Who 
reads  an  American  book  ?"  There  are  many  very  curious 
MSS.  of  critical  and  theological  value,  and  some  specimens 
of  the  earliest  printing,  which  prove  that  we  have  made  no 


132  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

progress  in  the  art,  except  in  rapidity  and  cheapness.  We 
may  well  revive  the  old  typography. 

The  famous  Munich  foundry  of  bronzes  is  intensely  inter- 
esting in  its  methods,  and  specially  gratifying  to  Americans, 
because  its  collection  of  models  (full  size)  contains  so  large 
a  proportion  of  American  works.  There  is  indeed  nowhere 
such  a  collection  (in  plaster  casts)  of  American  sculpture  as 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  museum  of  this  foundry.  It  is  a  little 
mortifying  that  we  have  to  send  abroad  to  get  this  work 
done. 

Schwanthaler's  gallery  is  well  worth  visiting,*if  only  out  of 
gratitude  to  an  artist  and  sculptor  who  has  set  up  monuments 
of  his  genius  and  industry  in  every  church  and  temple  and 
public  edifice  in  Bavaria  and  neighboring  countries.  His  fer- 
tility is  truly  astounding,  and  his  general  excellency  is  marked. 
There  is  no  striking  originality  about  his  works,  but  he  is 
always  graceful,  careful,  and  equal  to  what  he  undertakes. 
His  lions  over  the  "  Gate  of  Victory  "  at  Munich  are  very 
fine,  and  all  four  markedly  different,  which  is  not  to  be  said 
of  those  at  Nelson's  column  in  London. 

One  of  the  most  popular  collections  in  Munich  is  the  por- 
trait series  of  modem  beauties,  of  which  King  Ludwig  formed 
a  special  exhibition  in  one  of  the  great  halls  of  the  "  Neue 
Residenz."  A  thoroughly  impartial  tribute  is  here  paid  to 
beauty,  which  the  King  recognized  in  the  peasant  or  the 
princess  with  equal  readiness.  I  could  not  think  that  the  re- 
sult was  very  creditable  to  the  loveliness  of  the  sex  in  this 
quarter,  for  I  think  I  could  pledge  myself  to  beat  the  whole 
collection  in  the  gathering  of  the  beauties  seen  in  one  morn- 
ing's walk  in  any  considerable  American  city.  The  Neue 
Residenz  is  a  magnificent  extravagance  in  its  interior,  and 
adds  another  to  the  thousand  superfluous  palaces  which  have 
been  built  out  of  the  bones  and  cemented  in  the  blood  of 


The  Young  King.  133 

overtaxed  and  half-consenting  dupes  to  the  pretensions  of 
selfish,  idle  and  corrupting  courts.  They  have  been  the  curse 
of  Germany,  and  are  not  yet  duly  abated — but  on  the  way  to 
correction. 

The  famous  Glyptothek,  a  collection  of  sculptures,  contains 
one  ancient  statue,  which  may  well  have  come  from  the 
fingers  of  Praxiteles  or  Phidias,  called  "  The  Barberini  Faun." 
It  is  a  sleeping  sat}T,  in  which  perfect  abandon  and  perfect 
grace  are  united.  The  marble  is  soft  as  flesh,  and  the  sweet- 
ness of  healthy  sleep  breathes  from  the  warm  limbs,  as  they 
droop  with  light  but  perfect  slumber.  The  creature  looks  as 
if  he  might  spring  up  and  advance  at  any  moment.  There 
are  many  other  greatly-praised  statues  or  fragments  in  the 
collection,  but  this  single  statue  to  me  was  worth  all  the  rest. 
The  paintings  on  porcelain  and  on  glass  are  a  specialty  in 
Munich.  They  are  lovely  and  of  great  immediate  charm — 
of  lasting  brilliancy,  without  lasting  interest.  It  is  impos- 
sible not  to  enjoy  a  few  views  of  them,  and  a  specimen  or  so 
may  well  enough  be  sent  home  by  those  who  can  afford  it ; 
but  they  compare  with  the  pictures  they  represent,  as  ivor}' 
miniatures  do  with  their  originals  ;  they  substitute  fiiiess: 
for  fineness,  and  finish  for  perfection.  "  A  Columbus  in 
Chains,"  by  Wappers,  was  the  best  copy  of  what  must  be  an 
admirable  picture  in  the  fine  collection  of  the  dealer,  Mr. 
Wimmer,  very  much  patronized  by  American  travelers. 

Of  the  many  other  things  in  the  churches  and  palaces  of 
Munich,  time  would  fail  me  to  speak.  Iser  still  "  rolls  rapid- 
ly" through  it,  and  has  not  very  lately  had  its  blue  stream 
stained  red.  The  young  King  leans  to  the  side  of  Prussia, 
contrary  to  the  tendencies  of  his  house,  and  perhaps  with 
more  credit  to  his  sagacity  than  his  honor.  Bavaria  is,  I  trust, 
more  alive  than  Munich  would  indicate.  If  not,  its  industry, 
its  agricultural  wealth  and  its  long  independence  will  not 


134 


The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


save  it  for  another  generation  from  absorption  in  the  common 
German  Empire.  The  young  King  marries  in  October  the 
daughter  of  Duke  Maximilian,  one  of  his  own  subjects.  One 
of  his  sisters  was  Queen  of  Naples  ;  another  is  Empress  of 
Austria.  There  are  too  many  soldiers  riding  about  Munich 
for  its  own  good.  A  cavalry  band  wakes  me  at  5  every 
morning,  leading  a  regiment  of  horse  to  exercise.  The  mu- 
sic is  pleasant,  but  it  smacks  of  the  ruin  which  befalls  states 
always  armed,  and  never  able  or  ready  to  fight.  The  smaller 
states  of  Germany  have  long  been  in  the  condition  of  knights 
crushed  under  the  weight  of  their  own  armor. 


XIV. 


SALZBURG. 


Salzburg,  Austria,      ) 
August  12,  1867.  ) 

rpROM  Munich  to  Salzburg,  about  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles,  the  railroad  runs  parallel  with  the  Bavarian  Alps, 
and  just  far  enough  from  them  to  command  a  series  of  en- 
chanting views  of  their  ragged  tops  and  snowy  shelves  and 
green  flanks  as  they  descend  to  the  cultivated  fields  and  great 
lakes  that  lie  at  their  base.     When  I  visited  Europe  twenty 
years  ago,  I  received  a  very  impressive  charge  from  a  man 
of  eminent  taste  and  experience  not  to  come  back  without 
seeing  Salzburg   and  the  Tyrol.     But  it  was    not   so    easy 
then  to  run  over  Europe  as  it  is  now.     Railroads  had  not 
then  superseded  post-roads,  and  I  came  back  without  having 
obeyed  orders.     My  friend,  Dr.  Bartol,  celebrates  this  region 
in  his  "  Pictures  of  Europe,"  and  on  no  part  of  his  travels  have 
I  heard  his  eloquent  tongue  more  eloquent  than  on  his  visit 
to  Salzburg  and  the  Konigssee.     Yet,  after  all  this  warning, 
I  was  not  prepared  to  find  Salzburg  what  I  am  now  disposed 
to  call  it,  the  most  beautiful  spot  in  Europe — certainly  the 
most  beautiful  I  have  ever  seen.     I  am  looking,  as  I  write, 
on  this  loveliness.      The  Hotel  de  I'Europe,  from  which  I 
write  —  charming  for  situation  and  for  architectural  beauty, 
is  half  a  mile  out  of  Salzburg  proper,  and  brings  the  city 
within  the  panorama  it  commands.      The  river  Salza  runs 
through  the  lovely  plain  sprinkled  with  villages  and  beautiful 
trees,  often  planted  in  colonnades  of  half  a  mile  long,  and 


':> 


6  T/te  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 


finally  divides  the  city,  which  is  crowded  in  between  steep  hills 
crowned  with  old  monasteries.  A  castle  of  five  hundre"d 
feet  elevation,  the  old  seat  of  the  Prince  Bishops,  who  ruled 
over  the  body  and  soul  of  this  neighborhood,  overhangs  the 
little  city  with  its  proud  towers,  but  is  separated  from  it  by 
its  immense  height  and  inaccessibleness,  as  far  as  bishops  in 
the  days  of  its  foundation  were  raised  above  common  Chris- 
tian men.  On  the  narrow  plateau  of  the  city  proper  ample 
space  is  first  secured  for  the  cathedral  and  the  churches  of 
St.  Peter,  with  the  monasteries  and  nunneries  and  spiritual 
houses  of  all  sorts  now  vacant  or  turned  to  civil  uses,  but 
which  were  once  crowded  with  an  ecclesiastical  population. 
In  the  noble  squares  round  which  lie  the  palaces  and  libra- 
ries and  hospitals  of  the  old  archbishops,  are  the  costly  fount- 
ains they  built  to  adorn  their  successive  reigns.  Into  what 
little  space  their  pride  left  was  crowded  the  narrow  streets 
of  the  people's  homes — which  towered  up  into  the  air  to  find 
the  room  denied  them  on  the  ground.  The  unevenness  of 
the  surface,  except  for  the  few  acres  occupied  by  the  churches 
and  palaces,  and  the  precipitous  character  of  the  hills  on 
both  sides  of  the  defile,  have  given  an  unequaled  picturesque- 
ness  to  the  appearance  of  the  city,  which  is  greatly  aided  by 
the  admirable  Italian  architecture  of  the  town.  The  cathe- 
dral without  and  within  is  a  most  grand  and  solemn  edifice, 
and  stands  amid  domes  and  towers  that  enhance  its  beauty 
and  dignity.  Seen  near  or  far,  from  within  or  without,  the 
city  is  a  feast  of  beauty.  There  is  nothing  incongruous  in  it. 
And  yet  it  is  the  smallest  part  of  what  I  see  and  call  Salzburg. 
If  it  were  wholly  blotted  out  of  existence,  this  delicious  land- 
scape would  remain  essentially  unimpaired.  Far  around  the 
open,  smiling  plain,  with  the  river  gleaming  through  the 
beautiful  trees  that  hang  fondly  over  its  meadows,  stand  as 
sentinels  the  most    sublimely  fair  peaks  of  granite,  spotted 


Perfect  Landscape.  137 

with  snow,  relieved  by  lower  mountains  clothed  in  darkest 
green  to  their  very  tops.  If  nature  had  cast  each  one  of 
these  mountains  in  a  separate  mould,  with  a  direct  eye  to 
variety,  contrast  and  picturesqueness,  and  then  placed  them 
where  each  would  best  support  the  general  effect,  they  could 
not  better  meet  the  craving  for  artistic  perfection.  Here 
are  gathered  into  one  landscape  all  the  beauties  which,  scat- 
tered widely,  give  distinction  to  the  scenes  in  which  they  are 
separately  found.  The  eye,  satisfied  with  Untersberg,  whose 
awful  comb  saws  the  sky  with  its  marble  teeth,  falls  on  Ho- 
henstaufen,  rising  in  a  regular  cone,  and  is  then  relieved  by 
Schmidteustein,  whose  rocks  resemble  the  walls  of  a  fortress. 

But  why  dwell  on  particulars  in  a  landscape  so  harmoni- 
ous that  it  compels  the  eye  to  take  in  the  whole  effect  at 
every  glance  ?  There  is  not  an  empty  inch  in  the  sky  line, 
and  not  one  repetition.  The  distances  are  graded  so  that 
every  focus  of  the  eye  presents  a  new  charm,  and  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say  whether  the  foreground,  the  middle  distance  or 
the  far  view  is  most  delicious.  The  meadows  just  now  are 
hazy  with  the  midday  heat,  and  the  mountains  seem  to  swim, 
like  beautiful  black  monsters,  in  their  radiant  sea  of  emerald. 
This  morning  early,  the  mountains  were  mottled  with  black 
and  white,  and  it  seemed  as  if  Beauty,  Love  and  Terror  were 
contending  for  their  possession ;  last  evening  the  sunset 
clothed  them  in  roses  and  gold,  and  then  the  moonlight 
heaped  more  beautiful  cloud  mountains  on  their  heads  and 
flooded  both  ranges  w-ith  its  silver  tide. 

There  is  no  crushing  sublimity  in  the  fair  scene  to  make 
the  heart  ache  with  a  majesty  that  never  veils  its  terrors. 
Nobody  of  true  sensibility  can  stay  amid  the  high  Alps  for 
weeks  at  a  time,  or  cares  to  look  day  after  day  upon  Niagara 
or  a  storm  at  sea.  But  one  could  live  here  in  Salzburg  for- 
ever, and  find  it  always  beautiful  and  always  sublime,  and  yet 


138  TJie  Old  World  in  its  Nm>  Face. 

never  be  dazed  with  die  beauty  or  tired  with  the  grandeur. 
For  it  is  the  perfect  balance  of  those  two  qualities,  beauty 
and  sublimity,  that  characterizes  this  spot  above  all  others. 
The  open,  broad,  smooth  meadows  breathe  only  peace  and 
cheerfulness.  Light  in  amplest  abundance  bathes  the  land- 
cape.  Civilization,  delicate  culture,  artificial  gardens,  fount- 
ains, shrubs,  vases  and  statues  keep  all-comforting  and  pleas- 
ing images  steadily  in  view.  But  up  there  against  the  sky 
stands  that  circle  of  marble  walls  broken  into  ruins,  clo- 
ven here  almost  to  the  meadow,  and  lancing  up  to  the  zenith 
there  in  spikes  of  snowy  marble,  or  in  rifts  of  marble  snow. 
Winter  bares  his  icy  arm  and  reaches  over  into  the  valley  to 
pluck  the  summer  rose  ;  while  spring  runs  up  the  mountain- 
side with  emerald  feet  to  meet  brown  autumn,  holding  court 
midway.  The  charming  contrast  is  so  vivid  and  yet  so  har- 
monious, that  it  satisfies  without  cloying,  and  compels  atten- 
tion without  fatiguing  the  senses.  This  is  no  unusual  thing 
in  landscapes  ;  but  it  is  commonly  only  landscapes  that  are 
full  without  being  striking,  that  soothe  and  permanently 
charm.  This  is  the  most  striking  of  landscapes,  and  yet  it 
soothes  and  rests  and  satisfies  and  holds  the  heart. 

How  hard  it  is  to  tell  what  it  is  that  so  exhilarates  in  this  pe- 
culiar scenery  !  Sometimes  it  seems  the  majesty  and  beauty  of 
form,  and  sometimes  the  subtle  charm  of  color.  The  noon- 
day is  a  great  disenchanter.  Beautiful  things,  with  their  dif- 
ferent charm  in  the  morning  and  the  evening  light,  are  often 
merely  indifferent  objects  seen  under  the  meridian  sun.  We 
had  an  experience  of  this  at  the  Konigssee.  The  ride  of  eight- 
een miles  from  Salzburg  was,  I  think,  the  most  enchanting 
drive  I  ever  took — one  ever-varying  succession  of  pictures,  as 
individual  each  as  geniuses  among  common  men,  of  mountains 
seen  in  mountain  frames.  It  was  as  if  the  mountains  had 
got  up  an  exhibition,  in  which  all  agreed  to  show  each  other 


The  Salt  Mines.  139 

off  to  the  best  effect,  in  a  series  of  tableaux.     A  peak  of 
pure  cream  marble  would  suddenly  lift  itself  six  thousand 
feet  high  into  a  notch  formed  by  two  green  mountains,  as 
perfect  a  picture  as  if  ordered  by  Bryant  from  the  studio  of 
Gifford.     Then  again,  a  gulf  of  snow  would  open  down  be- 
tween the  two  warm  summits,  as  if  Greenland  had  suddenly 
thrust  its  bosom  in  between  Teneriffe  and  Vesuvius.     When 
we  arrived  at  the  Konigssee  about  noonday,  the  vertical  sun 
poured  such  a  direct  light  into  this  rocky  bowl,  that  its  pre- 
cipitous sides  refused  to  cast  one  shadow  of  enchantment  on 
the  water.     Under  cover  of  a  stout  awning,  and  rowed  by  a 
company  of  peasants,  of  whom  three  were  women,  modest 
and  pleasant-looking,  though  brown  and  brawny  with  work 
and  exposure,  we  went  down  to  the  King's  hunting-lodge, 
some  three  or  four  miles,  and  roused  the  echoes  with  pistol 
shots  and  songs  as  we  glided  over  the  purest  Water  in  the 
world.      Really  there  seemed  not  more  than  half  a  dozen 
places  in  the  whole  shoreless  lake  where  a  landing-place 
could  be  made.      The  place  strongly  resembled  the  Yo  Se- 
mite Valley  in  California,  substituting  only  a  floor  of  green 
grass  for  the  green  water.     The  mountain-sides  were  just  as 
precipitous   in   both  cases,  and  the  dimensions  and  height 
about  the  same.     On  the  way  back,  we  stopped  an  hour  at 
Berchtesgaden,  to  go  into  the  salt  mine. 

The  region  about  Salzburg  is  known  as  the  Salz-kammer- 
gut,  and  is  the  source  of  large  revenue  to  Austria,  from  the 
immense  yield  of  salt.  One-eighth  of  the  national  income 
comes  from  this  source.  The  mine  we  descended  was  a 
succession  of  chambers  three  or  four  hundred  feet  square, 
and  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  deep,  out  of  which  the  salt  had 
been  extracted  by  a  curious  process.  The  salt  lies  in  strata, 
so  mixed  with  clay  and  pebbles  that  it  can  not  be  hewed  out 
in  bulk.     Fresh  water  is  pumped  into  a  chamber  hollowed 


140  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

out  by  the  pick  and  shovel,  and  the  chamber  is  then  sealed, 
until  the  water  has  become  brine.  This  water  is  then  de- 
canted by  pipes  into  receiving  vats,  where  it  is  duly  crystal- 
lized by  evaporation.  Large  quantities  of  it  are  carried  in 
pipes  twenty,  and  in  one  case,  sixty,  miles  across  valleys  and 
around  mountains  to  reach  some  spot  where  fuel  is  cheap. 
The  salt  chambers,  always  enlarging  as  they  yield  their  salt, 
are  filled  again  and  again  with  fresh  water,  which  is  converted 
into  brine  in  periods  varying  from  three  weeks  to  a  year,  ac- 
cording to  the  percentage  of  salt  in  the  walls,  and  this  is  re- 
peated until  they  become  so  large  that  their  unsupported 
vaults  will  not  allow  them  to  be  made  any  larger  without 
peril  to  the  works.  They  lie  one  above  another,  or  side  by 
side,  with  only  a  few  feet  of  thickness  between,  and  occa- 
sionally a  perilous  caving  in  has  destroyed  life  and  property. 
We  descended  about  half  a  mile,  chiefly  on  foot,  following  our 
guide  in  solemn  procession  through  long  galleries,  and  sliding 
down  steep  balusters  (without  stairs)  in  a  way  that  brought 
back  the  coasting  down  hill  of  boyhood  very  vividly,  only  our 
lanterns  made  poor  moonlight,  and  the  salt  rather  dirty  snow. 
The  air  was  cool  and  sweet,  and  tasted  salt.  We  passed  one 
of  the  briny  seas  in  a  boat.  It  had  been  illuminated  for  our 
benefit,  and  was  as  gloomy  as  Acheron-darkness  made  visible. 
.We  were  disappointed  in  seeing  no  stalactites  or  sparkling 
crystals.  A  salt  mine  is  not  a  whit  more  lively  than  a  gold 
mine,  and  in  fact  there  is  a  very  general  resemblance  between 
them.  The  exit  out  of  the  mine  is  effected  by  striding  a  long 
wooden  horse,  on  wheels,  which,  on  a  narrow  tram-road, 
tears  through  the  darkness  at  a  fearful  rate,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  brings  you  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  mountain  into 
very  grateful  day-light.  The  costumes  worn  on  this  occasion 
by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  are  more  convenient  than  ele- 
gant, and  are  slightly  confusing  to  the  general  prejudice  in 


Odd  Locomotion.  141 

favor  of  a  difference  in  the  apparel  of  the  sexes.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  taste,  I  decidedly  prefer  the  usual  distinction. 

Emerging  from  the  protecting  darkness  into  the  full  light 
of  a  public  road,  we  became  somewhat  painfully  impressed 
with  the  absurdity  of  our  habits,  of  which  we  had  experienced 
the  decided  benefit  in  our  subterranean  life.  The  leathern 
aprons,  worn  in  this  case  behind,  made  the  sliding  on  the 
poles  comparatively  easy  ;  and  although  I  expected  my  leath- 
ern hand-shoe  (as  the  Germans  would  say)  to  frizzle  up  with 
the  heat  of  the  friction,  as  I  held  vigorously  on  to  the  rope 
— having  two  very  valuable  packages  pressing  on  my  shoul- 
ders— yet  I  escaped  with  a  whole  skin.  I  can't  say  that  the 
experimental  trip  would  inchne  me  to  a  repetition  of  the  jour- 
ney— various  as  the  methods  of  progress  were,  and  novel  as 
the  scene  and  agreeable  the  company — but  it  was  worth 
doing  once.  The  work  goes  on  day  and  night.  Laborers 
stand  ten  hours  of  this  underground  existence  without  injury 
to  health.  We  saw  this  salt  in  transit  at  Ebensee  and 
Gmunden.  It  is  formed  into  loaves,  very  much  the  shape  of 
a  rimless  hat,  and  weighing  about  twenty-five  pounds  each. 
A  file  of  laborers,  each  with  a  wooden  trough  on  his  shoul- 
ders, fitted  to  hold  three  loaves,  and  with  a  linen  bonnet  on 
his  head  to  protect  his  face  from  the  salt,  was  carrying  the 
salt  from  the  covered  flat-boats  which  fetch  it  from  Ebensee 
to  the  railroad  at  Gmunden.  Immense  quantities  were  in 
daily  transit  over  this  road,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest  in 
Europe. 

Our  next  excursion  from  Salzburg  was  one  of  three  days, 
to  Ischl,  the  Traunsee,  and  Gmunden.  The  distance  to 
Ischl  is  about  thirty-five  miles  —  a  pretty  hard  day's  drive 
over  the  mountains.  Our  party  was  of  eight,  in  two  carriages. 
A  mile  or  two  out  of  town,  at  the  foot  of  a  sharp  ascent,  we 
found  an  extra  horse  clapped  on  to  our  pair,  and  this  was  re- 


14-  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

peated  as  often  as  necessary  on  the  journey.  The  constant 
use  of  the  shoe  and  the  brake  enables  them  to  dispense  with 
any  breeching  to  their  harness,  and  is  the  greatest  saving  of 
"horseflesh.  The  abandonment  of  the  check-rein  is  another 
sensible  improvement.  The  horses,  without  an  ounce  of  su- 
perfluous flesh,  carried  us  over  the  mountain-road  in  a  stout 
carriage,  with  five  persons  and  no  small  amount  of  luggage, 
very  safely  and  without  distress  to  themselves.  The  drive 
lay  through  the  mountains,  and  ran  round  the  lake-sides,  and 
furnished  a  constant  feast  of  varying  surprises.  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  charm  of  the  view,  as  we  came  suddenly 
upon  St.  Wolfgang,  and  pitched  by  a  sharp  descent  into  the 
village  of  St.  Gilgon.  After  dinner,  we  lay  stretched  out 
upon  the  banks  of  this  lovely  lake,  feeling  that  we  could  will- 
ingly pass  a  week  doing  nothing  but  watch  its  surface 
changing  under  the  shadows  of  clouds  and  of  its  own  mount- 
ains. The  color  and  translucency  of  the  waters,  the  com- 
bination of  blackness  and  fertility  in  the  mountain-sides, 
the  picturesque  shape  of  the  hills,  the  gleaming  of  giant 
towers  and  steeples  in  the  distant  villages — all  made  this  a 
delicious  scene.  Our  afternoon  drive  lay  directly  round  the 
western  side  of  the  lake,  and  scarcely  left  it  until  we  got 
within  five  miles  of  Ischl.  Here  the  mountains  begin  rapid- 
ly to  close  in,  and  finally,  as  you  turn  the  shoulder  of  one  of 
them,  you  find  yourself  in  a  stronghold  of  mountains,  without 
a  place  in  the  horizon  where  the  eye  can  escape.  A  closer 
prison  of  hills  can  not  be  conceived.  It  is  very  refreshing 
to  those  who  covet  a  total  change  from  the  milder  forms  of 
nature,  but  not  the  kind  of  beauty  that  satisfies  me.  A  sin- 
gle day  of  it  was  quite  enough.  Ischl  is  near  enough  to 
Vienna  to  furnish  a  summer  retreat  for  the  Emperor  and 
many  Austrian  nobles.  It  is  not,  however,  as  much  like  a 
German  Spa  as  I  feared  it  would  be.     We  found  no  crowd 


Ebensee.  143 

there,  and  no  obtrusion  of  fashion  and  nonsense.  The  Traun 
river,  a  lovely  mountain  stream,  which  strings  the  Tyrolean 
lakes  upon  its  thread,  furnished  our  escape  from  Ischl. 

Putting  our  luggage  and  our  persons  aboard  a  row-boat, 
manned  with  two  oarsmen  and  a  helmsman,  we  started  down 
the  rapid  current  of  the  Traun  to  float  to  Ebensee,  a  distance 
of  ten  or  twelve  miles.  The  river  is  broken  by  rapids  every 
half  mile,  and  is  indeed  a  torrent  in  all  its  course  ;  but  its  nav- 
igation, after  a  short  experience,  was  wholly  free  from  alarm, 
and  indeed  became  to  the  most  timid  of  the  party  full  of  de- 
licious excitement.  We  slid  over  waters  generally  not  three 
feet  deep,  with  varied-colored  pebbles  at  the  bottom  shining 
clear  in  view,  now  in  the  sunshine,  and  now  in  the  shade  of 
mountain  precipices,  hurrying  over  boiling  rapids  and  shoot- 
ing round  corners,  which  illustrated  the  skill  of  the  boatmen 
and  gave  us  all  the  exhilaration  of  a  race-course.  It  was  the 
most  charming  ten  miles  in  all  our  journey.  Reaching 
Ebensee,  we  found  the  pretty  little  English  steamer  that  navi- 
gates the  Traunsee  waiting,  and  in  one  hour,  passing  through 
that  famous  water,  were  landed  at  the  beautiful  village  of 
Gmunden.  This  lake  has  the  charm  of  being  locked  up  in 
rugged  mountains  at  one  end,  and  opening  on  to  smiling  and 
cultivated  hills  at  the  other.  The  bold  Traunstein,  6000  feet 
high  and  naked  from  base  to  crown,  is  the  rocky  genius  of  the 
lake,  and  everywhere  characterizes  the  landscape  with  his 
sublime  and  awful  presence  ;  but  a  most  verdant  mountain 
stands  just  next  to  him,  as  green  and  richly  clothed  as  he  is 
white  and  bare,  so  that  the  general  effect  of  the  lake  is  beau- 
ty and  not  sublimity.  A  lovely  esplanade  runs  for  a  half- 
mile  along  the  shore  in  front  of  Gmunden,  and  furnishes  a 
charming  morning  or  evening  walk.  The  romantic  portion 
of  the  party  went  out  on  the  lake  for  a  moonlight  row.  I 
contented  myself  with  a  row  before  breakfast  the  next  morn- 


144  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ing,  and  spent  the  forenoon  upon  a  hill  a  half-mile  back  in 
the  shadow  of  an  old  church  and  in  full  view  of  the  whole 
length  of  the  lake.  Ten  miles  of  hilly  road  brought  us  to  the 
railroad  at  Vocklabruck,  and  two  hours  more  by  rail  back  to 
Salzburg,  after  a  most  thoroughly  enjoyable  trip,  and  with  a 
feeling  that,  spite  of  all  the  beauty,  nothing  as  beautiful  as 
Salzburg  itself  had  fallen  under  our  eyes. 

One  more  moonlight  evening  at  Salzburg  completed  the 
gracious  and  ever-to-be-treasured  impression  of  that  peerless 
place.  A  few  hours  the  next  moriiing  carried  us  by  rail 
to  Rosenheim,  where  we  struck  the  beautiful  Inn,  and  turn- 
ing at  right  angles  directed  our  journey  toward  Innsbruck. 
The  day  was  intensely  hot,  and  the  European  cars,  though 
they  exclude  dust  better,  do  not  admit  air  as  well  as  ours. 
We  sweltered  through  the  noontide  hours,  getting  what  re- 
freshment we  could  from  an  occasional  glimpse  of  some 
"  frosty  Caucasus  "  that  did  not  much  abate  the  "  fire  in  his 
hand"  of  this  present  writer.  But  if  ever  lovely  and  glorious 
scenery  could  make  one  forget  the  fatigues  of  his  journey, 
it  would  be  in  this  noble  valley,  where  open  fields  and  show- 
topped  mountains,  with  flanks  covered  with  fertile  farms,  di- 
versify the  course  of  the  swift  and  snow-fed  river.  Every 
few  miles  a  new  valley  opened  far  up  on  the  right  and  left, 
tempting  the  traveler  off  his  way.  The  features  of  the  Inn 
valley  up  to  Innsbrtick  are  all  large.  Extensive  districts  of 
cultivated  land  cover  the  sides  of  the  successive  mountains. 
Large  hamlets  are  gathered  far  up  on  the  slopes,  and  little 
churches  dot  the  stormiest  and  most  inaccessible  parts  gf 
the  habitable  region.  Along  the  valley  of  the  Inn,  thickly 
peopled,  innumerable  spires  repeat  the  claims  of  the  Cath- 
olic faith.  Nearly  uniform  in  appearance,  their  slender  tow- 
ers support  a  sharp  spire,  usually  painted  green.  Along  the 
road  shrines  are  sprinkled  in  excessive  abundance,  and  every 


Imisbruck.  145 

village  has  on  the  nearest  shelf  of  rock  a  Calvary,  with  a 
shrine  at  each  bend  in  the  difficult  path,  completing  the  ten 
stations  in  Christ's  passion.  The  notion  of  penance  runs 
through  the  whole  system.  Instead  of  placing  the  churches 
with  reference  to  the  convenience  of  the  worshipers,  there 
are  always  many  expressly  made  most  inconvenient  of  access, 
that  some  merit  may  be  acquired  in  getting  up  to  them.  The 
Tyroleans  are  the  devoutest  Catholics  we  have  met.  Their 
churches  are  full  of  worshipers,  and  the  houses  and  barns  and 
fields  full  of  sacred  images  and  pictures.  They  are  a  serious, 
self-respectful  people,  quite  unlike  the  Bavarians,  who  are 
light-hearted  and  merry,  or  the  Swiss,  who  are  thought  mer- 
cenary, and  have  been  much  demoralized  by  the  constant 
visitations  to  which  their  beautiful  country  is  subject.  They 
keep  up  a  faithful  allegiance  to  Austria  in  this  part  of  the 
Tyrol,  and  resist  all  temptations  to  desert  her  cause  in  the 
days  of  her  darkness. 

Innsbruck,  the  old  capital  of  the  seven  circles,  is  a  singu- 
lar remnant  of  middle-age  antiquity.  Right  at  die  German 
end  of  the  easiest  pass  over  the  Alps  (the  Brenner),  she  has 
laid  in  the  track  of  the  armies  that  have  surged  against  that 
rocky  barrier  for  ages.  Nothing  but  the  importance  of  the 
position  could  account  for  the  presence  of  so  substantial  a 
city  at  so  high  a  point — nearly  two  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea  level — and  in  the  immediate  presence  of  such  lofty  mount- 
ains. Peaks  of  eight  thousand  feet  high  fling  their  shadows 
into  her  streets,  and  in  the  moonlight  it  is  difficult  to  distin- 
guish the  angles  of  her  roofs  from  the  tops  of  the  mountains 
as  they  mingle  their  outlines  against  the  sky.  Viewed  from 
the  bridge,  which  gave  the  city  its  name,  there  are  few  sights 
more  striking  than  this  substantial  town,  with  its  quaint  ga- 
bles and  time-worn  walls  disputing  possession  of  the  ground 
with  the  river  and  the  mountains,  but  holding  it  for  centuries 

G 


146  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

in  unchanged  dignity  and  beauty.  The  stone  arcades  of  its 
main  street  are  most  formidable-looking  places.  Its  chief 
interest  centres  in  the  church  built  as  the  sepulchre  of  Max- 
imilian I.,  Emperor  of  Germany.  His  tomb  is  one  of  the 
costliest  in  the  world,  and  is  unique.  Twenty-four  marble 
tablets  contain  the  sculptured  history  of  his  life,  worked  in  a 
miniature  of  perhaps  a  quarter-inch  to  the  foot,  but  with  a 
delicacy  and  truth  that  has  never  been  surpassed.  A  group 
of  colossal  statues,  of  the  chief  ornaments  of  the  Austrian 
house,  surround  the  sepulchre.  They  are  the  finest  bronzes 
I  have  ever  seen,  both  in  conception  and  execution,  and 
make  Innsbruck  worth  a  visit  for  themselves  alone. 


XV. 


THE  TYROL  AND  THE  ALPS. 


CoiRE,  Switzerland,     ) 
August  26,  1867.  i 

'VIT'E  left  Innsbruck  on  the  17th  of  August  for  a  drive  of  a 
week  through  the  finest  part  of  the  Tyrol.  Having 
joined  a  party  of  very  old  friends,  whom  it  had  been  our 
good  fortune  to  fall  in  with  very  unexpectedly,  and  whose 
company  had  half  restored  to  us  the  feelings  of  home  and 
parish  life,  we  set  out,  eight  in  all,  just  two  carriage  loads,  to 
try  the  charms  of  that  most  independent  and  delightful  mode 
of  travel,  known  so  well  to  journeyers  on  the  Continent  un- 
der the  name  of  vetturino.  With  a  stout  pair  of  horses,  a 
good-tempered  and  "  indifferently  honest "  driver,  a  roomy 
carriage,  a  mountain  road,  and  an  occasional  extra  horse  or 
pair,  according  as  the  hill  was  longer  or  steeper,  we  made 
about  forty  miles  a  day  for  eight  days,  over  roads  uniformly 
excellent,  through  the  fairest  and  grandest  scenery  in  the 
world. 

The  valley  of  the  Inn,  celebrated  for  its  wonderful  beauty 
since  interest  in  natural  scenerj'  took  any  place  in  literature 
(and  it  is  wonderful  how  modern  this  taste  is,  and  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  find  any  thing  answering  to  it  in  classical  poetry 
— where  the  landscape  is  never  painted),  maintains  the  char- 
acter it  has  fifty  miles  below  Innsbruck,  for  fifty  miles  be- 
yond it.  It  is  a  rushing,  copious  torrent,  navigable  only  for 
rafts,  turbid  with  the  calcareous  matter  it  washes  down  from 
the  hundred  mountains  that  feed  it.     Its  beauty  is  sadly  im- 


148  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

paired  by  absence  of  all  transparency  ;  but  it  is  so  full  and 
free,  and  broken  by  such  constant  rapids,  that  it  never  ceases 
to  be  an  interesting  object  even  in  the  midst  of  the  charm- 
ing and  magnificent  hills  and  mountains  that  overhang  it. 
The  valley,  up  to  the  opening  of  the  Finster-miinz  pass,  is 
broad  and  noble.  Vast  fields,  smiling  with  grain  and  grass, 
checker  its  occasional  meadows  and  more  frequent  mount- 
ain slopes  ;  but  its  chief  feature  is  that  it  is  broken  at  inter- 
vals of  every  few  miles  by  immense  lateral  valleys,  which 
open  magnificent  vistas  back  to  snowy  peaks,  while  they  di- 
versify the  main  valley  with  an  endless  variety  of  beautiful 
and  often  sublime  prospects.  Here,  in  perfection,  may  be 
enjoyed  that  most  exquisite  thing,  the  natural  hanging  gar- 
den known  as  "the  Alp,"  and  giving  its  name  to  these 
ranges  of  mountains.  Three  or  four  thousand  feet  above  the 
valley  of  the  Inn,  and  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice  or  the  slope 
of  a  rugged  and  barren  mountain,  appears  a  little  island  of 
exquisite  greenness  and  fertility.  It  looks  in  the  distance  al- 
most as  if  you  could  cover  it  with  your  hand,  and  yet  it  is  di- 
versified with  grain-fields  and  trees  \  a  few  chalets  and  per- 
haps a  little  church  gleam  through  their  branches.  A  dreamy, 
far-off,  half-heavenly  charm  invests  this  inaccessible  spot !  A 
thousand  feet  above  it,  another  still  more  dimly  made  out 
inlays  the  mountain-side,  and  here  on  the  opposite  slope  is 
another,  and  at  one  view  a  dozen  similar  ones  adorn  the 
scene.  They  are  the  chaste  jewels  in  which  this  stately 
mountain  queen  arrays  herself ;  and  certainly  for  picturesque- 
ness  and  suggestiveness  to  the  imagination,  nothing  can  ex- 
ceed these  Alpine  oases,  in  the  midst  of  their  craggy  and  up- 
lifted deserts  of  rock.  Nowhere  are  these  mountain  mead- 
ows to  be  seen  in  such  perfection  as  in  this  valley  of  the  Inn, 
if  my  memory  of  Switzerland  serves  me  right.  Certainly 
since  leaving  the  Inn  I  have  seen  none  as  beautiful. 


Dogs  and  Shepherds.'  149 

Far  higher  up,  where  our  path  finally  took  us,  we  came 
across  these  spots  of  beauty,  and  found  them  of  course  far 
larger  than  they  looked  below  and  less  interesting  on  a 
nearer  view.  As  you  climb  higher  and  higher,  green  pastures 
without  the  cultivation  that  marks  the  islands  of  verdure  that 
adorn  the  lower  ranges,  are  always  charming  the  eye,  and 
especially  when  speckled  with  cattle,  that  look  from  even 
what  appears  a  near  view  hardly  larger  than  mice.  The  cat- 
tle in  the  Tyrol  are  all  of  one  dun  color,  small  and  agile. 
They  have  the  habits  of  goats,  and  hang  upon  the  side  of 
fearful  precipices,  seeking  the  tender,  short  grasses,  with 
what  seems  the  greatest  risk.  Early  in  the  morning,  you  see 
hundreds  of  cows  filing  out  of  the  narrow  lanes  of  the  dirty  lit- 
tle stone  towns  upon  the  mountains,  each  tinkling  its  bell,  and 
all  taking  the  familiar  path  to  the  upper  pastures.  One  shep- 
herd goes  before,  and  one  behind,  and  if  the  flock  is  large 
several  others  are  added.  The  well-trained  dogs  must  not 
be  forgotten.  They  seem  animated  with  even  a  graver  sense 
of  responsibility  than  their  masters.  Following  a  flock  of 
sheep  or  cattle  through  a  road,  you  see  them  sweeping  from, 
one  side  to  the  other,  with  the  regularity  of  a  pendulum,  so 
that  every  other  moment  they  are  barking  at  the  heels  of 
every  possible  laggard  in  the  herd.  Tending  a  flock  of  sheep 
in  the  mountains,  the  dog  does  ten  times  the  work  of  the 
shepherd,  who  lies  upon  his  side,  with  his  peaked  hat  and  red 
vest,  his  leather  breeches  and  his  staff,  looking  as  if  he  were 
posing  for  his  picture. 

The  patience  of  these  herdsmen,  passing  oftentimes  twelve 
hours  of  the  successive  days  of  many  months  in  their  abso- 
lute solitude  and  at  their  monotonous  business,  is  something 
fearful  to  contemplate.  I  have  often  longed  to  penetrate  the 
thoughts  of  these  isolated  shepherds,  standing  immovable 
and  watching  their  charge.     Their  lives  seem  so  vacant  of 


150  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

interest,  that  it  is  not  strange  that  rehgious  superstitions  of 
any  kind  find  welcome  in  their  hearts.  Nowhere  have  shrines 
and  crosses  and  pictures  of  saints  seemed  to  play  so  impor- 
tant a  part  as  among  these  Tyroleans.  The  spirit  of  in- 
quiry and  intelligent  doubt  has  not  invaded  their  domain. 
These  valleys  are  bristling  with  church  towers.  Every  hill- 
top has  its  chapel,  every  town  on  the  road  its  shrine,  and  old 
as  their  churches  are,  they  are  generally  in  good  repair,  and 
new  ones  are  still  going  up.  It  is  manifest  that  the  priests 
are  honored  and  revered  among  them,  and  that  their  duties 
are  neither  few  nor  small.  The  merit  of  the  images  and  pict- 
ures seen  everywhere  in  this  rude  country  is  surprising. 
The  common  road-side  paintings,  protected  by  a  little  stone 
shelter,  are  far  from  despicable.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
Tyroleans  have  great  skill  in  the  use  of  tools,  and  especially 
of  the  penknife.  They  are  poor  and  remote,  and  must  needs 
study  economy  and  invention.  They  make  their  own  tools 
and  farm  implements  and  wagons.  They  are  all  rude  and 
shackly-\ooV\\\g  things,  but  they  answer  the  purpose.  They 
bind  their  fences  together  with  withes  to  save  nails,  and  re- 
sort to  every  device  to  economize  their  humble  resources. 
As  to  industry,  nothing  can  surpass  the  spur  to  labor  their 
mountain  home  and  hard  climate  supply.  One-tenth  of  their 
soil  is  all  that  is  properly  arable  ;  but  it  is  said  that  they 
have  subdued  a  sixth  part  of  it.  The  pains  and  labor  ex- 
pended upon  every  inch  of  redeemable  soil,  show  how  pre- 
cious land  is  in  this  overcrowded  territory,  where  too  many 
mouths  are  seated  at  a  most  meagre  table.  Distance,  diffi- 
culty, toil  present  no  sufficient  obstacles  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  least  acceptable  and  least  productive  parts  of  these 
mountains.  Whereon  any  thing  will  grow  by  any  amount  of 
pains  and  labor,  there  it  is  carried.  It  is  positively  distress- 
ing to  look  upon  these  bleak  hill-sides,  stony  and  precipitous. 


The  Tyrolese.  151 

but  perhaps  two  or  three  miles  square,  and  every  rod  of  it 
terraced  and  every  foot  enriched  with  dressing  carried  on  the 
backs  or  heads  of  women  to  gain  a  poor  and  uncertain  har- 
vest, and  then  to  reflect  upon  the  millions  of  level  acres  in 
the  New  World  unpeopled  and  unclaimed,  waiting  to  bestow 
abundance  and  emancipation  upon  these  needy  and  over- 
worked mountaineers,  would  they  emigrate.  I  could  com- 
pare the  hill-sides,  in  the  regularity  and  closeness  of  the  lines 
that  mark  their  terraces,  to  nothing  coarser  than  ribbed  cloth, 
so  close  and  fine  is  the  labor  expended  upon  them  ! 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  gravity  describes  such  a 
people.  I  listened  in  vain  for  songs  from  the  mountain-sides, 
and  heard  their  jodel  only  on  one  or  two  chance  occasions, 
and  then  in  towns.  They  cultivate  music  in  the  towns,  and 
several  rustic  bands  of  instrumental  performers  were  roam- 
ing about  playing  very  respectable  music  under  the  windows 
of  travelers,  and  then  sending  in  their  chief,  hat  in  hand,  for 
a  contribution.  On  several  occasions,  stopping  at  village 
inns  for  dinner,  two  or  three  musicians,  unheralded,  have 
come  into  the  room,  and  played  and  sung  for  a  half-hour,  and 
felt  themselves  abundantly  rewarded  by  a  couple  of  francs. 
Everywhere  the  memory  of  Andrew  Hofer,  the  Tyrolean  Tell, 
is  held  in  reverence.  In  1803  this  noble  peasant  led  the 
Tyrolese  against  the  French  invaders  of  their  liberties,  and 
succeeded  for  a  time  in  exalting  the  feelings  of  his  country- 
men to  a  wonderful  pitch  of  self-sacrifice  and  self-control. 
He  had  for  a  short  time  a  kind  of  rustic  court  at  Innsbruck, 
and  governed  his  people  with  patriarchal  simplicity,  making 
their  personal  morals  and  domestic  usages  the  subject  of  his 
official  regulation.  But  his  pure  and  fervid  spirit  was  soon 
cut  off  by  the  invaders,  and  he  perished  by  order  of  a  court- 
martial,  whose  verdict,  it  is  said,  was  inspired  by  Napoleon 
himself.     His  monument  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  in  the 


152  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Maximilian  Church  at  Innsbrtick.  It  is  strange  that  the  love 
of  independence  among  this  people  should  co-exist  with  a 
most  lively  devotion  to  the  house  of  Austria.  But  Austria 
has  made  an  exception  to  her  usual  spirit  in  dealing  with  the 
Tyrol.  Her  government  has  been  mild  and  considerate 
among  a  people  whom  she  knew  would  resent  too  much  in- 
terference. But  the  spirit  of  liberty  can  effect  little  when 
unsupported  by  intelligence  or  when  hampered  by  supersti- 
tion. The  Tyroleans  are  seemingly  content  with  their  lot, 
and  their  lot  will  continue  to  be  a  most  narrow  and  unim- 
proving  one  until  a  noble  discontent  with  it  is  awakened  by 
closer  contact  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  Their  present  ad- 
herence to  their  local  costume  is  an  indication  of  their  isola- 
tion.. Picturesque  as  these  tribal  badges  are,  their  continu- 
ance is  always  the  evidence  of  backward  spirit,  and  their 
disappearance  indicates  the  growth  of  intelligence  and  the 
progress  of  freedom.  Happily  they  are  rapidly  losing  their 
hold  upon  all  peoples.  The  civilized  people  of  all  coun- 
tries are  beginning  to  dress  much  alike,  and  it  is  not  the 
least  of  the  evidences  of  that  community  of  intelligence 
and  feeling  which  is  the  hope  of  the  world.  Near  Silz, 
where  we  stopped  to  dine,  we  met  a  wagon-load  of  Gip- 
sies on  their  vagabond  pilgrimage.  A  dozen  children,  their 
eyes  as  black  as  sloes,  their  hair  curling  and  glossy,  lay  in 
all  possible  positions  sprawling  on  the  wagon-top,  and  as  we 
passed  held  out  their  hands,  from  the  oldest  down  to  the 
baby,  as  if  their  first  instinct  was  to  beg.  At  Rouen  and  at 
Homburg  I  met  other  parties  of  these  privileged  vagrants — 
as  handsome  creatures  as  ever  crossed  my  path,  spite  of 
tawdry  jewels  and  dirt.  They  looked  as  if  the  three  Kings 
from  the  East  had  started  out  of  the  canvas  of  an  old  master 
and  commenced  a  modern  progress.  I  have  seen  no  genu- 
ine royalty  in  our  day  half  as  impressive  as  the  mock  majes- 


Among  the  Monks.  153 

ty  of  these  untameable  savages,  who,  half-brothers  as  they 
seem  to  our  Indian  chiefs,  are  Hkely  to  outlive  them. 

We  stopped  at  an  old  monastery  near  Silz,  tempted  by 
the  size  of  the  buildings,  and  especially  by  the  external  pre- 
tensions of  the  church,  which  we  found  quite  as  costly  and 
elegant  within  as  without.  It  was  not  without  difficulty  that 
we  waked  up  a  single  representative  of  this  nearly  extinct 
community.  Six  monks  are  the  sole  survivors  of  a  large 
brotherhood.  The  vast  corridors,  once  so  resounding,  are 
now  given  up  to  cobwebs  and  silence.  One  of  the  monks,  a 
most  civil  and  obliging  gentleman,  showed  us  about  the 
monastery,  and  led  us  to  the  grave  of  one  of  his  late  com- 
panions, which  was  still  strewed  with  flowers.  One  of  the 
company  chancing  to  sneeze,  he  raised  his  cap  reverently 
and  pronounced  a  blessing,  apparently  as  unconscious  of  the 
singularity  of  the  act  as  if  he  had  been  returning  a  salute. 
It  is  plain  that  even  in  Austria  the  days  of  monasteries  and 
nunneries  are  numbered.  We  passed  our  first  night  at  Imst, 
in  the  midst  of  solemn  mountain  shadows,  relieved  later  by 
brilliant  moonlight.  The  quietness  of  the  town  as  we  drove 
in  about  sunset,  was  intensified  by  the  tinkle  of  the  bells 
from  a  herd  of  goats  just  returning  with  swollen  udders  from 
the  mountain  pastures,  and  finding  their  way  each  to  its  own- 
er's door,  where  they  bleated  for  admission.  Beautiful  crea- 
tures, in  their  speckled  coats  and  mild  eyes,  they  seem  half 
human  in  their  strange  intimacv  with  the  households  where 
they  are  brought  up,  companions  of  the  children  and  sharers 
of  the  domestic  accommodation.  The  stabling  of  the  cattle 
within  the  same  stone  walls  with  the  family  gives  a  peculiar 
odor  to  the  whole  in-door  atmosphere  of  the  Tyrol ;  and  even 
in  the  inns  it  is  impossible  to  escape  the  stable  smell.  It 
qualifies  all  the  food,  and  abates  sensibly  the  pleasure  of 
being  in  the  country. 

G  2 


154  The  Old  World  iti  its  New  Face. 

Our  second  day's  ride  carried  us,  still  keeping  the  banks 
of  the  Inn,  up  through  the  famous  Finster-miinz  pass,  a  rival 
of  the  Via  Mala,  in  solemn  and  awful  severity.  The  mag- 
nificent road  which  conquers  the  natural  inaccessibleness 
of  this  rocky  gorge,  through  which  the  Inn  forces  its  impetu- 
ous way,  is  a  triumph  of  engineering  audacity.  For  a  mile 
or  two  of  the  road  it  is  a  ledge  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock, 
and  seems  to  hang  between  heaven  and  earth  in  a  way  to 
make  the  traveler  upon  it  shudder  to  gaze  up  or  down. 
The  snow  peaks  look  over  into  the  chasm  to  see  what  has 
become  of  the  river  born  in  their  glaciers.  Shrunk  to  a 
milky  line,  it  sends  its  faint  murmurs,  almost  like  expiring 
sighs,  up  to  the  traveler's  ear,  who,  a  thousand  feet  above, 
listens  for  the  voice  that  has  so  lustily  cheered  him  on  his 
way  for  a  hundred  miles  back.  We  passed  the  night  at  a 
little  tavern  beautifully  poised  upon  the  summit  of  the  pass, 
from  which  a  most  commanding  view  of  all  its  glories  was 
to  be  had.  The  grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  scene  haunted 
me  on  my  pillow,  and  when  the  late  moon  had  won  its  way 
high  enough  to  shine  into  the  pass,  I  rose,  about  2  a.m.,  to 
see  the  deeply-buried  Inn  reflect  its  rays,  and  to  enjoy  that 
magic  which  only  moonlight  throws  about  mountain  scenery. 
The  next  day  carried  us,  by  a  sudden  bend,  away  from  the 
valley  of  the  Inn  over  into  that  in  which  the  Adige  takes  its 
rise.  We  passed  the  fountain-head  of  its  waters,  and  already 
felt  ourselves  down  in  Verona. 

We  had  now  crossed  the  Alps,  and  by  merely  following 
the  stream  could,  in  a  few  hours,  have  been  on  the  shores  of 
Como  or  in  the  streets  of  Milan.  But  our  purpose  was  to 
cross  the  Stelvio — the  highest  carriage  road  over  the  Alps, 
and  for  all  who  have  made  it  and  the  other  passes,  incom- 
parably the  most  striking.  So  we  turned  off  at  Mais  from 
the  descending  valley  that  leads  to  Botzen,  and  took  the  up- 


up  to   Trafoi  on  Foot.  155 

ward  path  that,  by  the  way  of  Trafoi,  carries  the  traveler  over 
to  Bormio.  The  road  steadily  ascends  by  the  side  of  a 
stormy  and  turbid  torrent  from  Prad  to  Trafoi — a  corruption 
of  Tres  Fontes,  a  name  derived  from  the  bursting  out  of 
three  fountains,  side  by  side,  in  a  ledge  of  rock  a  mile  or  two 
above  the  little  filthy  hamlet,  in  whose  cleanly  inn  we  passed 
the  night.  As  I  am  striving  to  bring  my  muscular  system 
into  better  habits,  I  make  it  a  point  to  walk  up  all  the  mount- 
ain passes,  and  five  miles  walk  up  to  Trafoi  gave  a  very  good 
relish  to  the  mountain  trout,  for  which  the  region  is  famous. 
I  rose  early  enough  to  see  the  cows,  the  goats  and  the  pigs 
start  on  their  daily  pilgrimage  to  the  upper  pastures — an 
event  which,  with  their  return  at  sunset,  seems  to  constitute 
the  only  excitement  of  these  lofty  villages.  Five  hours  of 
hard  pulling  at  length  brought  us  to  the  summit.  But  what 
scenes  of  wonder  and  beauty  had  we  not  passed  through  on 
the  way  ?  The  Ortler  Spitze,  almost  the  equal  of  Mount 
Blanc  in  loftiness  and  awful  majesty,  was  the  intimate  com- 
panion of  our  way.  It  seemed  so  near,  at  times,  that  we 
could  fancy  ourselves  stepping  across  the  abyss  and  standing 
on  its  very  crown.  The  great  glaciers  of  the  Ortler  hung 
right  in  our  view,  their  viscous  constitution  perfectly  evident, 
so  that  one  half-waited  for  them  to  flow.  The  contiguity  of 
such  vast  masses  of  snow  and  ice  cooled  the  August  midday. 
I  chose  to  be  alone  in  my  walk  up  this  fearfully  grand  way, 
and  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  pain  or  pleasure  prevailed  in 
the  emotions  aroused  by  the  awful  beaut}'^  of  the  precipices 
and  torrents,  the  oppressive  bulk  of  the  masses  that  surround- 
ed me,  the  desert  waste  in  which  the  imagination  wandered 
and  was  lost,  with  all  the  dizzy  sensations  that  come  over 
sensitive  brains,  looking  down  bottomless  abysses  or  up  in- 
accessible precipices.  The  road  is  a  miracle  of  daring  and 
of  success.     It  takes  the  bull  by  the  horns,  and  instead  of 


156  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

winding  its  way  round  distant  sweeps,  zigzags  its  path  in  the 
face  of  the  precipice,  climbing  in  one  place  a  thousand  feet 
in  a  compass  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  square  surface.  The 
immense  difficulties  overcome  in  this  passage  give  this  road 
a  superlative  claim  to  admiration.  It  is  a  real  work  of  art. 
One  is  amazed  to  hear  that  it  cost  only  $1,500,000.  It 
could  not  be  built  in  America  for  $10,000,000.  There  are  no 
open  views  on  the  Stelvio,  or  indeed  on  any  of  the  mountain 
passes  I  have  yet  made.  The  mountains  are  too  much  in 
each  other's  way  for  that.  The  eye  is  shut  in  and  has  noth- 
ing to  compare  them  with  but  themselves.  The  whole  world 
becomes  a  mountain  tract ;  there  is  nothing  to  see  or  to  think 
of  but  mountains,  and  after  a  week  or  two  in  the  upper  Alps 
I  can  conceive  of  an  almost  entire  forgetfulness  of  any  ex- 
istences except  mountain  peaks  and  snow  summits.  The 
height  of  these  mountains  is  felt  only  by  those  who  climb 
them,  and  my  experience  is  to  feel  their  height  more  in  de- 
scending than  in  ascending  them. 

After  descending  quite  as  much  as  you  can  remember  to 
have  ascended,  you  find  yourself,  after  a  brief  enjoyment  of  a 
level  which  you  mistake  for  the  bottom,  beginning  a  new  de- 
scent which  seems  quite  equal  to  the  one  that  you  had  ac- 
cepted for  the  whole  descent,  and  you  are  like  enough  to  re- 
peat this  experience  three  or  four  times  if  you  are  actually 
going  to  the  level  of  the  country  from  which  the  mountains 
rise  ;  for  great  mountain  ranges  are  not  got  up  without  enor- 
mous buttresses  in  the  shape  of  side  ranges,  and  after  com- 
ing down  the  central  pile,  you  have  all  the  outlying  terraces 
to  descend  before  you  reach  the  bottom  of  the  bottom.  The 
descent  on  the  Italian  side  of  the  Stelvio  is  far  less  fine  than 
the  ascent  on  the  Tyrol  side,  and  it  is  a  misfortune  to  any 
traveler  who  makes  this  pass  to  approach  it  from  Italy.  We 
were  in  company  with  friends  who  had  tried  it  both  ways, 


First  Sight  of  Italy.  157 

and  their  testimony  was  very  strong  in  this  direction.  We 
came  down  to  Bormio  Baths  and  passed  the  fourth  night 
of  our  journey  at  the  excellent  inn,  so  charmingly  overlook- 
ing the  valley  of  the  Adda,  at  the  new  baths  of  this  most  an- 
cient place,  known  to  the  Romans  and  much  resorted  to. 
Descending  the  valley  the  next  morning,  we  found  ourselves 
unmistakably  in  Italy.  Not  only  had  the  language  changed 
wholly,  but  the  appearance  of  the  people  and  the  country. 
In  place  of  the  mountain  ash  which  had  accompanied  us  all 
the  way  from  the  German  baths  (and  nowhere  are  these 
beautiful  trees  more  perfect  and  abundant  than  on  this  line 
of  journey),  and  the  barberry  bush,  which  to  a  Boston  boy 
seems  a  sort  of  Yankee  notion,  we  found  the  mulberry  and 
the  fig  and  the  walnut.  The  country  looked  softer,  and  the 
people  far  more  picturesque  in  costume  and  manners,  and 
fairer  in  face  and  figure.  The  peasants  at  work  along  the 
road-sides  rested  in  attitudes  that  an  artist  would  have  posed 
them  in,  and  their  rags  were  all  arranged  as  if  they  were  play- 
ing charades.  It  was  a  charming  change,  and  struck  every 
member  of  our  party  in  one  way.  The  road-side  was  less 
marked  with  shrines  and  the  people  seemed  less  supersti- 
tious. 

From  Bormio  to  Tirano  our  way  followed  the  valley  of  the 
Adda,  another  of  those  mountain  streams  liable  at  any  time 
to  be  converted  into  a  furious  torrent,  sweeping  bridges  and 
houses  and  even  towns  before  it.  The  wide  and  stony  beds 
of  these  Alpine  rivers  show  now,  when  shrunken  by  the  heats 
of  the  whole  summer,  what  they  must  be  in  copiousness  and 
rush  when  the  snows  are  first  beginning  to  melt.  They  are  al- 
ways fearful  objects  in  my  eyes — images  of  unrestrainable 
passion  and  destructiveness.  At  a  narrow  defile  in  the  gorge, 
about  two  miles  above  Tirano,  a  land-slide  blocked  up,  in  1803, 
the  course  of  the  Adda,  when  the  river  rose  and  flooded 


158  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  country  for  many  miles  back,  and  only  after  eleven  days 
forced  its  passage  through  the  obstruction,  carrying  away 
and  destroying  a  large  part  of  the  town  of  Tirano.  We 
passed  on  to  Madonna,  a  village  just  at  the  opening  of  the 
Bernina  pass,  and  quitting  the  valley  of  the  Adda,  which 
would  have  led  us  by  night-fall  to  Colico,  on  Lake  Como — re- 
served for  a  later  visit — we  made  our  way  up  the  beautiful 
gorge  that  leads  by  the  charming  valley  of  Puschiavo  over 
into  the  valley  of  the  Inn  at  Samaden.  Crossing  within  a 
mile  of  Madonna  the  Swiss  frontier,  we  found  a  disagreeable 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  cholera  in  Italy,  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  smoke-house  through  which  all  travelers  com- 
ing from  the  Italian  side  are  obliged  to  pass,  by  way  of  dis- 
infecting themselves  of  any  possible  contagion.  It  was  a 
short  but  very  disgusting  process,  and  as  useless  as  disagree- 
able. There  was  no  thoroughness  about  it ;  our  luggage  was 
not  smoked,  and  several  of  the  party  escaped  by  remonstrat- 
ing. One  of  the  young  ladies,  not  accustomed  to  chemicals, 
was  so  suffocated  by  the  disengagement  of  chlorine  gas  that 
she  implored  with  frantic  earnestness  to  be  released,  and 
her  cry,  I  think,  emancipated  us  all  a  minute  or  two  earlier 
than  the  regulations  required  us  to  stay.  The  douane  just 
here  appeared  solicitous  only  on  the  subject  of  tobacco — 
which  I  find  everywhere  to  be  the  first  and  commonly  the 
last  question  at  the  frontiers.  If  you  can  answer  promptly, 
No  !  to  the  inquiry,  "Any  tobacco  ?"'  there  is  little  danger  of 
any  ransacking  of  baggage.  A  very  generous  method  of 
dealing  with  travelers'  luggage  prevails  at  the  European  cus- 
tom-houses nowadays — a  great  improvement  on  twenty 
years  ago. 

We  passed  the  fifth  night  of  our  drive  at  Le  Prese,  a  little 
mountain  watering-place  on  the  shore  of  the  fairy-like  lake 
of  Puschiavo,  a  most  romantic  spot.     A  party  of  Italian  gen- 


Italian  Fun.  159 

tlemen  amused  us  greatly  by  the  complete  abandonment  of 
their  usual  quietness  to  the  temptations  of  some  gymnastic 
apparatus  in  the  court-yard  of  the  hotel.  If  they  had  been 
trained  monkeys,  they  could  hardly  have  shown  more  agility 
or  made  more  fun.  So  much  noise  and  such  tricks  upon 
each  other,  were  accompanied  with  such  admirable  good 
temper,  that  I  formed  a  very  favorable  opinion  of  the  amia- 
bilit}^  of  a  people  usually  considered  somewhat  jealous  of  their 
dignit}^  The  next  morning,  an  ascent  of  five  hours  carried 
us  to  the  summit  of  the  Bernina  pass,  which  after  the  Stelvio 
is  rather  tame,  although  it  carries  one  up  to  the  line  of  the 
snow,  which  could  be  gathered  from  the  road-side  in  an  oc- 
casional patch.  The  diligence  runs  daily  at  all  seasons  over 
this  admirable  carriage  road.  The  descent  on  the  northern 
side  is  far  more  interesting  than  the  ascent  on  the  south,  on 
account  of  a  series  of  magnificent  glaciers,  presenting  the 
best  possible  views  of  themselves  from  the  road.  One  of 
them,  and  a  very  glorious  one,  is  easily  approached  and 
crossed  without  danger  or  special  fatigue.  A  long  descent 
brought  us  out  near  Saraaden,  by  way  of  one  of  the  chief 
tributaries,  if  not  the  very  head  of  the  Inn,  a  river  we  rejoin- 
ed with  gratitude  and  delight.  At  this  point  we  gained  the 
famous  valley  of  the  Engadine,  or  narrows  of  the  Inn,  which 
is  divided  into  the  lower  and  upper  Engadine.  We  took  the 
lower  part,  and  passing  the  now  frequented  places  of  Pon- 
tresine  and  St.  Moritz,  we  brought  up  for  the  night  at  Silva 
Plana — a  pretty  spot  on  a  green  lake  just  at  the  opening  of 
the  yulier  pass.  This,  one  of  the  inferior  passes  and  over  a 
secondary  range,  is  nevertheless  full  of  charm,  especially  on 
the  first  mile  or  two  of  the  ascent  from  Silva  Plana.  It 
brought  us  up  for  the  night,  after  a  drive  of  only  twent)'-six 
miles,  at  Tiefenkasten,  a  romantic  inn,  at  the  spot  where  the 
road  to  Coire  cuts  the  Albula  river  and  pass  at  right  angles. 


i6o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Faee. 

Our  inn  seemed  coiled  up  in  the  folds  of  the  swift  brook,  that 
filled  the  house  with  its  brawling  and  the  eye  with  its  foam. 
It  was  a  watering-place  indeed,  and  it  needed  pretty  quiet 
nerves  and  a  very  weary  frame  to  sleep  in  the  midst  of  such 
a  whirl  of  waters.  The  road  to  Coire,  only  eighteen  miles 
distant,  was  over  another  pass  of  no  mean  height,  and  the 
descent  into  the  valley  of  the  Rhine  was  full  of  beauty  and 
grandeur. 

We  had  made  five  mountain  passes  in  seven  days,  and 
become  so  accustomed  to  hills  that  we  had  almost  forgotten 
what  level  ground  was.  The  opening  of  the  broad  Rhine 
valley  was  a  delightful  surprise  and  refreshment.  The  mount- 
ains around  Coire  are  half  superbly  rugged  and  severe,  and 
half  wondrously  wooded  and  verdant,  and  the  open  plain 
gives  the  advantage,  so  much  missed  among  the  higher  Alps, 
of  a  foreground  and  a  contrast.  Not  willing  to  be  so  near 
the  Via  Mala  without  visiting  it,  we  here  turned  off  our  direct 
route,  which  was  toward  Zurich,  and  drove  eighteen  miles 
south  to  Tusis,  up  the  Rhine  and  at  the  very  gates  of  the 
Via  Mala.  The  scenery,  going  and  returning,  was  such  as  to 
revive  all  the  charm  which  hung  around  our  recollections  of 
the  week  spent  on  the  Rhine  two  months  ago.  There  seems 
hardly  a  mile  of  the  course  of  that  enchanted  stream  which 
is  not  worthy  of  special  visit.  Its  waters  refuse  to  run  where 
beauty  and  grandeur  cease,  and  hide  themselves  in  moras- 
ses and  sand  when  they  can  no  longer  reflect  overhanging 
cliffs  and  vineyards.  We  stopped  on  the  way  at  Reichenau, 
to  see  the  house  and  the  room  in  which  Louis  Philippe  had 
passed  a  few  months,  disguised  as  a  school-master,  and  where 
he  was  at  the  time  of  his  father's  execution  and  his  mother's 
banishment  from  France.  Two  portraits,  one  as  he  was  when 
he  came  to  Reichenau,  and  one  as  King  of  France,  sent  by 
Louis  Philippe  himself,  in  grateful  remembrance  of  the  hos- 


The  Gloomy  Walk.  i6i 

pitality  he  received  and  the  faithfulness  with  which  his  secret 
was  kept,  hang  in  this  chamber  and  are  full  of  significance. 
There  is  a  charm  in  the  melancholy  of  the  young  exile,  dis- 
guised in  his  simple  yet  elegant  bourgeois  dress,  which  the 
Marshal's  uniform  and  royal  orders  of  the  King  in  tlie  days 
of  his  prosperity,  with  his  full  face  and  somewhat  heavy  good 
nature,  do  little  to  replace.  Tusis,  like  Ragatz  and  Emps, 
is  one  of  those  little  Romansch  towns,  whose  names  preserve 
the  peculiar  dialect  once  universally  spoken  in  them.  It  is 
still  spoken  in  some  villages  exclusively,  but  not  in  this,  where 
a  very  corrupt  German  seems  to  prevail.  It  is  for  its  size 
and  promise  one  of  the  noisiest  spots  I  ever  sought  to  pass  a 
quiet  Sunday  in.  All  Saturday  and  Sunday  nights  the  jodel 
was  shrieked  in  the  streets,  in  every  form  of  caricature  and 
extravagance  which  the  love  of  noise  and  mischief  could  in- 
spire. There  being  eight  in  our  party,  we  had  a  private  re- 
ligious service  in  our  own  parlor,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day 
walked  or  drove  into  the  Via  Mala,  not  the  fittest  temple  for 
thoughts  of  a  God  of  love.  Every  body  knows  all  about  the 
Via  Mala,  which  has  been  described  a  thousand  times. 

The  Rhine  here  finds  its  way  through  an  awful  crack  in 
the  mountain  some  three  miles  long  and  a  half-mile  deep. 
The  fissure  is  so  narrow  and  the  walls  so  steep,  that  it  was 
for  ages  after  the  settlement  of  the  country  impossible  to  get 
through  the  gorge  ;  but  Pocobelli,  a  bold  engineer,  blasted  a 
road  in  the  side  of  the  precipice,  now  clinging  to  one  face, 
and  then  passing  by  a  bridge  (there  are  three  on  the  gorge) 
over  to  the  other,  until  an  excellent  way  for  the  high-road 
was  achieved.  The  gloom  of  this  place,  even  at  high  noon, 
is  fearful.  It  is  grand  and  awful  to  look  up  at  the  walls  of 
stone  that  overhang  the  narrow  way,  and  then  five  hundred 
feet  below  to  see  the  Rhine  shrunk  to  a  brook  of  a  yard's 
width,  burrowing  down  for  unknown  depths  to  find  the  room 


1 62  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

denied  it  on  the  surface.  At  times  the  river  thus  compress- 
ed rises  within  a  few  feet  of  the  bridges,  and  it  is  hard  to 
conceive  a  scene  of  more  terrible  magnificence  than  this 
gorge  must  then  present.  I  walked  up  three  miles  and  back 
again  through  this  horrid  defile,  with  shuddering  nerves. 
About  half-way  through  a  green  expansion  occurs,  where  a 
few  houses  and  fruit-trees  and  a  little  breathing-room  rest 
the  heart  heavy  with  the  desolation  and  the  suggestions  of 
peril  and  imprisonment.  There  was,  I  confess,  no  view  in 
the  Via  Mala  so  agreeable  to  me  as  the  view  out  of  it !  The 
green  valley  and  the  pleasant  village  of  Tusis,  seen  from  the 
gorge,  a  half-mile  before  reaching  the  northern  gate  of  the 
defile,  was  like  a  glimpse  of  Heaven  to  a  soul  in  Tartarus. 
One  can  not  wonder  at  the  passion  which  humanity  has 
shown  for  harsh  and  cruel  views  of  God's  nature  and  charac- 
ter, when  he  considers  the  taste  for  horror  which  seems  to 
prevail  still  among  travelers.  If  there  is  any  place  of  special 
gloom  and  awful  desolation,  where  Nature  has  been  most  vio- 
lent, abnormal  and  hideous  in  her  workings — there  the  most 
numerous  feet  are  found,  and  there  the  greatest  interest  and 
admiration  centre  !  Are  the  majority  of  people  so  dull  in 
sensibility,  that  nothing  but  pepper  and  mustard  on  their 
food,  rape  and  murder  in  their  reading,  and  precipices  and 
abysses  in  scenery,  can  touch  their  appetite  ?  I  may  be  very 
weak  in  my  tastes,  but  I  confess  I  can  stand  only  a  very 
moderate  amount  of  awful  and  desolate  scenery.  A  very 
few  hours  amid  horrors  of  snow  and  glaciers  and  perpendic- 
ular walls  of  rock  above  and  below,  satisfies  my  stomach  for 
the  sublime.  I  find  myself  returning  from  such  scenes,  as  I 
came  from  the  Via  Mala,  glad  to  have  seen  them,  and  very 
glad  not  to  be  obliged  to  stay  long  with  them.  Returning  to 
Coire,  we  started  for  Ragatz,  and  at  2  p.m.  found  ourselves  at 
the  ravine  that  leads  to  the  famous  baths  of  Pfaffers. 


XVI. 

SWITZERLAND. 

August  25,  1867. 

TfHE  town  of  Ragatz  has  a  beautiful  situation  on  the  Rhine, 
commanding  a  most  striking  view  of  the  picturesque  and 
architectural  cliffs  that  stand  still,  inviting  castles  to  come 
and  perch  upon  their  half-finished  buttresses,  and  holding 
the  ruins  of  such  as  long  ago  accepted  the  hint.  It  is  chiefly 
visited,  however,  as  the  entrance  of  the  remarkable  chasm, 
bold  and  precipitous,  which  leads,  by  a  ledge-sustained  road, 
to  the  Baths  of  Pfafifers — a  warm  spring  bursting  at  blood- 
heat  out  of  the  mountain-side  in  a  cave  of  rocks,  which  grows 
more  and  more  grand  and  curious  as  the  traveler  follows  up 
the  excellent  path  to  the  fountain-head.  Visiting  this  place 
at  noonday,  we  did  not  experience  all  the  awe  which  it  is 
fitted  to  inspire  at  a  later  hour,  when  the  direct  light  is  with- 
drawn ;  but  even  after  the  Via  Mala  and  the  Finster-munz, 
it  is  a  defile  of  wonderful  grandeur  and  beauty.  The  violent 
stream  that  disputes  the  roadway  in  this  choked  gorge,  last 
year  acquired  a  still  more  gloomy  interest  from  becoming 
the  grave  of  three  English  women  who,  by  the  fright  of  a 
horse  in  the  carriage  in  which  they  were  driving,  were  precip- 
itated into  the  river,  and  all  lost.  There  is  still  no  sufficient 
protection  to  the  road  on  the  precipitous  side,  a  strange 
omission  now  in  Europe,  where  most  frequented  places  are 
carefully  fenced  against  slips  and  missteps.  Schelling's 
tomb,  with  the  expressive  and  beautiful  monument  erected 


164  The  Old  World  hi  its  New  Face. 

by  King  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  to  the  "  First  thinker  of  Ger- 
many," adorns  the  church-yard  at  Ragatz.  However  this 
confident  title  may  be  disputed,  Schelling's  bust  indicates  the 
presence  of  a  masterly  genius,  and  it  is  always  most  refresh- 
ing to  see  hereditary  monarchs  paying  tributes  to  men  who 
are  kings  in  realms  not  reached  by  tax-gatherers  or  won  by 
blood  and  ancestry.  The  railroad  from  Ragatz  to  Zurich  is 
as  lovely  as  cultivation,  carried  to  lofty  heights,  bold  palisades 
of  rock  and  distant  snow  peaks,  can  make  a  road  which  is 
bathed  for  a  portion  of  the  way  by  the  transparent  waters  of 
the  charming  lake  of  Wallenstadt.  The  easy  motion  of  the 
rail  and  its  swiftness  were  delightful  after  ten  days  of  creep- 
ing in  our  voitures.  Darkness,  without  a  moon,  came  on  an 
hour  or  two  before  we  reached  Zurich,  but  not  before  we  were 
satiated  with  beauty. 

ZURICH. 

August  27. 

The  intense  interest  which  the  natural  beauty  and  sublim- 
ity of  Switzerland  excites,  deadens  observations  of  her  politi- 
cal and  social  life.  She  is  buried  in  the  shadow  of  her  mount- 
ains, and  so  trampled  over  by  tourists,  and  hid  behind  the 
crowd  of  summer  visitors,  that  it  is  hard  to  find  the  Swiss 
people  or  to  measure  their  present  condition  and  prospects. 
Entering  the  country  at  Zurich,  and  having  to  submit  to  a 
couple  of  rainy  days  which  made  scenery-hunting  useless,  I 
have  had  time  to  look  a  little  at  the  present  life  of  this  im- 
portant town,  which  I  am  glad  to  say  presents  an  appearance 
of  enterprise  and  activity  quite  worthy  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. The  old  home  and  fighting-ground  of  Zwingle,  the 
earliest  and  stoutest  friend  in  Switzerland  of  the  Reformation, 
it  has  retained  its  thoroughly  Protestant  character,  and  shows 
the  fruits  of  this  intelligence  and  freedom.     The  old  church 


Lavater.  165 

where  Zw  ingle  thundered,  and  out  of  which  he  drove  the  or- 
gan and  all  the  symbols  and  insignia  of  Romanism,  still 
keeps  its  solid  base,  and  is  largely  attended  as  a  Protestant 
church  on  every  Sunday.  There  are  five  Protestant  churches 
in  this  town  of  twent)'-five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  only 
one  Catholic  church.  The  people  are  church-going,  and  not 
inclined  to  desert  the  severer  dogmas  of  their  fathers.  The 
freer  theology,  which  has  so  extensively  illumined  the  Gene- 
van end  of  the  cantons,  seems  not  to  have  touched  this. 
Some  of  the  professors  in  the  university  are  suspected  of  lib- 
eral theological  tendencies,  but  there  is  no  church  in  town 
under  the  new-school  theology. 

Here  I  sought  with  lively  interest  the  place,  and  stood  in 
the  pulpit  where  the  mild  and  curious-minded  Lavater  preached 
for  thirty  years,  devoting,  I  fear,  his  most  lively  hours  to  his 
physiognomical  studies ;  and  then  I  went  with  pious  care  to 
visit  his  grave  in  St.  Anne's  church-yard,  where  a  modest  tablet 
records  his  birth  in  1741  and  his  death  in  1801.  He  was 
shot,  it  will  be  remembered,  by  a  French  soldier,  at  the  door 
of  his  house — in  wantonness — but,  lingering  in  agony  three 
months,  refused  to  designate,  although  he  knew,  the  man  who 
murdered  him,  notwithstanding  he  had  been  giving  him 
bread  and  wine  just  before  the  atrocious  deed.  Perhaps  his 
physiognomy  may  have  struck  Lavater  as  one  from  the  owner 
of  which  violence  was  to  be  expected,  and  in  the  essential 
coarseness  of  whose  proclivities  he  founded  a  charitable  ex- 
cuse. He  seems  to  have  been  thoroughly  beloved  as  a  man 
in  Zurich,  I  could  find  no  trace  of  Pestalozzi,  although  this 
was  his  birthplace.  The  Gessners  are  remembered  —  the 
naturalist  and  the  poet — both  natives  here. 

A  museum  of  armor  (admirable  in  its  arrangement  and 
quantity-)  contains  the  sword  and  helmet  reported  to  have 
been  worn  by  Zwingle  in  the  battle  of  Kappel,  where  he  lost 


1 66  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

his  life,  and  had  his  body  burned  by  the  enemy.  Whether 
Zwingle  actually  wore  and  contended  with  these  carnal  weap- 
ons is  doubted,  and  many  of  his  disciples  are  anxious  to  clear 
his  reputation  from  the  charge.  I  confess  I  should  think 
only  the  better  of  him  for  knowing  that  he  was  willing  to  re- 
pel the  enemies  of  his  country  with  sword  in  hand,  as  he  did 
the  enemies  of  the  truth  with  his  sharp-edged  tongue.  There 
is  a  hole  struck  in  the  hemlet  through  which  perhaps  his 
mighty  soul  went  up  to  the  God  of  truth  and  of  battles. 
Among  the  armor  are  two  suits  of  sternest  steel,  designed  for 
women  and  unmistakably  accommodated  to  the  female  form. 
For  what  Joan  of  Arc  these  complete  suits  of  mail  were 
forged  I  could  not  discover,  but  they  were  curious  evidences 
that  women's  rights  were  not  without  assertion  in  very 
backward  times,  and  that  some  women  are  ready  to  accept 
the  sternest  duties  of  manhood  with  its  larger  privileges. 
Mr.  Curtis,  whose  speech  in  the  New  York  Convention  on 
woman's  right  to  the  suffrage  I  have  so  much  praised  and 
blamed,  ought  to  see  these  iron  arguments  for  his  cause  here 
in  Zurich. 

Fuseli,  who  was  born  here  but  lived  so  long  in  England  that 
one  always  thinks  of  him  as  a  Londoner,  and  associates  him 
with  Northcote  and  Reynolds,  has  an  ambitious  picture  of 
the  famous  Oath  of  Grutli  hanging  in  the  Rath-haus.  It  is 
theatrical  and  bad  in  action  and  tint,  but  has  a  redeeming 
quality  in  the  expression  of  the  face  of  the  central  figure. 
But  it  was  neither  the  antiquities  nor  the  art  of  Zurich  that 
interested  me  most,  but  its  present  life.  It  is  thrifty  and 
prosperous,  with  something  better  than  toy-carving  or  cheese- 
making  or  petty  industries. 

The  silk  factories  here  are  large  and  active.  The  famous 
iron  works  of  Eschel  employ  two  thousand  workmen,  and 
turn  out  engines  for  steamboats  and  locomotives  which  sup- 


School  of  Arts.  167 

ply  Switzerland.  These  marine  engines  were  carried  in  parts 
over  the  passes  of  the  main  Alps,  and  set  up  on  the  various 
lakes  where  they  were  needed,  before  rail  communication 
had  become  so  common  and  so  thorough  in  this  country. 
There  is  a  magnificent  Polytechnic  School  here — in  a  beau- 
tiful and  stately  edifice,  three  years  in  building,  overlooking 
the  town — which  has  fifty  professors  and  over  five  hundred 
students.  The  highest  branches  are  thoroughly  taught  here, 
and  the  professors  are  selected  for  merit,  without  regard  to 
religious  or  political  biases.  There  are  many  Catholic  as 
well  as  Protestant  professors.  There  is  no  chapel  connect- 
ed with  the  institute.  The  catalogue  shows  that  the  Swiss 
students  are  from  twenty  different  Swiss  cantons,  (two  hun- 
dred and  forty-three  in  all),  and  the  rest  (three  hundred  and 
eight)  from  thirty-four  different  countries,  including  one  from 
England,  one  from  North  America,  and  one  from  South 
America.  This  shows  a  world-embracing  popularity,  or  else 
indicates  some  extraordinary  circumstances  of  cheapness  in 
the  cost  of  education  here  in  Zurich.  I  do  not  find  in  the 
list  of  professors  any  names  of  European  note  except  Keb- 
ler's,  who  has  written  on  Lake  Village  Remains.  Herr  C. 
Kappeler  is  President  of  the  Faculty.  One  course  of  lectures 
attracted  my  special  attention.  It  was  entitled  "  The  Histo- 
ry of  the  English  Novel,"  by  Dr.  Behn-Eschenberg.  A  beau- 
tiful collection  of  casts,  carefully  arranged,  shows  the  atten- 
tion given  to  esthetic  culture  here.  A  university  with  fifty- 
professors  also  exists  at  Zurich,  but  I  had  no  time  to  visit  it. 
A  costly  and  elegant  railroad  depot  of  stone,  now  building,  in- 
dicates the  fine  public  spirit  of  this  place.  Elegant  resi- 
dences, chiefly  on  the  hill-sides,  attest  the  prosperity  and  re- 
finement of  the  city.  "  Rude  as  a  Zuricher,"  though  a  Swiss 
proverb,  seems  to  have  less  foundation  than  most  popular 
sayings. 


1 68  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

I  am  sure  it  would  have  done  my  friend  Mr.  Jackson  S. 
Schultz's  heart  good  to  have  accompanied  me  on  my  visit  to 
the  new  stone  abattoir,  which  Zurich  has  built  by  the  side  of 
the  swift  river  that  carries  off  all  its  impurities.  Large  and 
lofty,  with  every  possible  accommodation  of  tackle  for  lifting 
carcasses,  gutters  for  disposing  of  offal,  special  apartments 
for  the  slaughter  of  beeves  and  of  calves,  in  another  place 
of  sheep,  and  in  still  another  of  swine — with  polished  stone 
floors,  keeping  no  stain  and  most  readily  washed — with  every 
arrangement  for  cooling  the  meat,  and  keeping  it  sweet  while 
duly  ripening  for  market — with  beautiful  stables  near  for 
stabling  cattle  fatted  for  the  knife,  and  with  butchers'  offices 
in  rows  adjoining  the  butchery — the  whole  arrangement  was 
such  as  to  command  my  great  admiration.  It  was  too  near 
the  town  (in  fact  in  it),  and  the  odor  of  the  place  was  not  in- 
viting, but  no  butchery  is  fragrant ;  if  it  can  only  be  made 
wholesome  it  is  all  we  can  ask.  A  market-house,  fully 
worthy  of  such  an  abattoir  and  of  the  city  which  possesses  it, 
next  engaged  my  attention.  It  was  a  model  of  fitness,  clean- 
liness and  attractiveness.  Made  of  iron  and  marble,  there 
was  nothing  about  it  to  collect  or  retain  dirt  or  odors.  No 
community  with  such  indications  of  civilization  can  be  kept 
in  the  rear  of  the  times.  I  regarded  these  tokens  of  enlight- 
ened self-interest  with  a  feeling  which  wholly  reconciled  me 
to  the  curtain  of  mist  that  hid  the  snow-mountains,  and  limit- 
ed the  lake  views  which  most  persons  visit  Zurich  to  see. 
Zurich  is  not  merely  interesting  to  \o6kfrom — it  is  interest- 
ing to  look  at. 

LUCERNE. 

August  30. 

We  came  from  Zurich  to  Lucerne  by  rail,  through  a  smil- 
ing country  that  rested  our  mountain-tossed  spirits  and  pre- 
pared them  for  a  fresh  enjoyment  of  the  wild  scenery  that 


Lucerne.  169 

was  before  us,  as  we  plunged  again  into  the  Alpine  region. 
The  lovely  lake  of  Zug,  with  its  inviting  inns  upon  the  very 
shores,  tempted  us  to  linger,  but  we  resisted  the  spell  and 
pressed  on  to  the  famous  centre  of  so  much  romantic  interest 
at  Lucerne.  Its  old  towers,  all  in  a  row,  greeted  us  with 
their  quaint  square  forms,  capped  with  purely  utilitarian  sheds, 
as  we  stepped  out  of  the  depot  and  made  our  way  on  foot 
across  the  antique  bridge,  roofed  with  rafters,  each  one  of 
which  holds  a  triangular  painting  commemorating  events  in 
the  lives  of  its  two  patron  saints,  St.  Leger  and  St.  Maurice. 
The  architecture  of  all  the  houses,  except  the  numerous 
hotels,  is  of  the  most  ancient  middle-age  type,  solid,  with 
loop-holes  for  windows,  and  with  jutting  cornices  separating 
the  stories.  That  peculiar  style  of  rafters,  built  in  between 
with  stone  and  mortar,  and  showing  themselves  externally  in 
quaint  patterns,  is  here  seen  in  elaborate  perfection.  The 
modern  buildings  are  .all  of  the  new  Parisian  style,  and  are 
clearly  the  growth  of  that  pressing  demand  for  accommoda- 
tion produced  by  the  annual  influx  of  pleasure-travel,  which 
within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  converted  Switzerland 
into  one  great  and  splendid  caravansary. 

The  moment  we  struck  Zurich  we  found  ourselves  in  this 
mighty  current  of  summer  tourists,  and  saw  at  once  how  del- 
uged with  travelers  the  land  was.  Lucerne  is  even  more 
marked  with  this  tide  than  Zurich.  Its  quay,  commanding 
one  of  the  loveliest  prospects  in  the  world,  is  wholly  occupied 
by  elegant  hotels,  crowded  with  guests.  Its  waters  swarm 
with  graceful  and  swift  steamers,  hurrying  to  and  fro  from- 
village  to  village  and  ferrying  this  restless  crowd  of  scenery- 
hunters  to  the  various  points  of  interest  along  these  enchant- 
ing shores.  Row-boats,  with  gay  awnings,  keep  up  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  endless  water-party.  The  shaded  walk  run- 
ning along  the  quay  is  the  scene  of  constant  rencontres  be- 

H 


170  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

tvveen  acquaintances  ignorant  of  each  other's  whereabouts, 
but  seemingly  not  more  surprised  to  meet  here  than  though 
it  were  in  the  streets  of  London  or  Paris.  Indeed,  from 
every  diUgence  or  voiture  in  Switzerland  one  catches  a  bow 
from  some  familiar  face,  and  is  hardly  astonished  if  our  own 
brother  or  next-door  neighbor  opens  the  carriage-door  as  he 
alights  at  a  way-side  inn.  What  Paris  is  as  a  city,  Switzer- 
land is  as  a  country,  the  spectacular  centre  of  all  pleasure- 
seekers. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  position  in  which  more  of  the 
elements  of  beauty  and  sublimity  are  mixed  than  that  of  Lu- 
cerne. Backed  by  mild  hills,  green  as  lawns  and  cultivated 
as  gardens,  amid  which  lovely  houses  look  out  from  trees 
that  do  not  too  much  hide  their  inviting  roofs — with  a  fore- 
ground of  gentle  slopes,  which  in  successive  points  overlook 
each  other,  as  they  glide  into  the  lake,  and  which  are  richly 
dotted  with  festive-looking  cottages  and  some  stately  houses, 
— the  middle  distance  is  occupied  by  stern  Pilatus  on  one 
side,  and  the  cheerful,  verdant  Rigi  on  the  other,  which  let 
the  eye  out  over  waters  blue  as  heaven,  into  a  sublime  vista 
of  rugged  mountains  reflected  in  every  shape  on  their  bosom, 
and  fashioned  round  great  bays  that  strike  in  four  directions 
deep  into  the  heart  of  the  hills,  while  over  all  hang  the  dis- 
tant snow  peaks,  the  crowning  charm  of  the  grand  and  be- 
witching prospect.  Whether  it  is  sweeter  calmly  and  fixeHly 
to  watch  this  delicious  scene  from  the  shore,  or  taking  the 
light  steamers  to  change  it,  making  the  rounds  of  the  lake 
and  sounding  its  bays,  and  coming  with  every  twist  of  the 
helm  on  some  new  combination  of  beauties — it  is  hard  to 
say.  But  every  cloud  in  the  sky  and  every  change  in  the 
wind  and  every  variation  in  the  temperature  alter  the  pros- 
pect ;  for  this  sensitive  beauty  wraps  herself  one  hour  in 
misty  drapery,  and  the  next  flings  it  suddenly  off"  and  dis- 


Tell  and  Schiller.  171 

closes  charms  that  were  not  missed  till  they  appeared.  We 
tried  both  ways,  studying  the  scenery  from  the  slopes  just 
back  of  Lucerne,  and  the  next  day  making  the  tour  of  the 
lake  to  Fluelen. 

Here,  of  course,  we  visited  Altorf  and  saw  the  native  haunts 
of  William  Tell,  and  the  famous  spot  where  tradition  de- 
clares he  shot  the  apple  from  his  son's  head  and  then  drove 
the  remaining  arrow  through  Gesler's  tyrannical  heart.  A 
little  chapel  by  the  water's  edge  embalms  Tell's  memor}?^, 
while  Schiller's  genius,  who  has  done  more  than  all  others  to 
brighten  his  fame,  is  celebrated  by  an  inscription  on  a  rock 
that  stands  isolated  on  the  brink  of  the  bay  of  Uri,  eighteen 
feet  high,  and  bears  the  name  of  Schiller's  Monument.  Men 
like  Schiller  are  their  own  monuments  ;  but  it  is  delightful  to 
find  all  over  that  vast  Central  Europe  where  German  is 
spoken,  the  pride  and  affection  felt  for  his  name  manifested 
in  bronze  and  marble  statues  and  in  inscriptions  of  praise. 
The  bust  in  the  Central  Park  at  New  York  is  only  a  becom- 
ing tribute  from  a  city  that  is  probably  the  third  or  fourth  in 
the  world  in  German  population.  But  if  German  love  and 
pride  did  not  commemorate  Schiller  in  New  York,  American 
gratitude  and  admiration  would  ! 

Saint  Gothard  Pass  opens  below  Altorf,  and  the  splendid 
preparations  the  mountains  were  clearly  making  for  a  sublime- 
ly beautiful  road,  made  it  very  hard  to  turn  back  without  fol- 
lowing the  invitation  to  enter  their  glorious  gates.  But  back 
we  turned  and  made  our  way  to  Weggis,  anxiously  watching 
the  sky,  which  for  four  days  had  been  sulky  and  weeping,  to 
know  whether  it  were  prudent  to  make  that  now  indispensa- 
ble climb,  the  ascent  of  the  Rigi.  The  clouds  were  still 
many  and  thick  in  some  quarters,  and  especially  heavy  on 
the  mountain  itself,  as  we  disembarked  at  Weggis  about  four 
in  the  afternoon,  and,  mounted  on  horses  which,  with  the  ad- 


172  The  Old  Woj'ld  in  its  New  Face. 

dition  of  friends  picked  up  on  the  boat,  counted  up  thirteen. 
The  wharf  at  Weggis  looked  as  if  a  cavalry  regiment  were 
drawn  up  to  receive  some  military  visitor,  so  closely  stood 
the  horses  side  by  side  waiting  for  their  riders.  So  great  a 
trade  is  now  driven  in  this  ascent,  that  we  found  the  boat 
full  of  rival  horse-furnishers  soliciting  our  patronage.  The 
legal  tariff  fixes  the  price  at  ten  francs  a  horse,  but  competi- 
tion has  reduced  it  to  seven,  and  even  to  five  francs.  About 
half  the  visitors  ascend  on  foot  ;  a  few  are  carried  up  in 
chairs  by  two  strong  porters,  usually  relieved  by  a  third  man. 
We  found  the  ascent  about  five  miles  long  (it  is  called  nine), 
and  by  no  means  as  steep  or  uneven  as  any  of  the  old  horse- 
paths up  Mount  Washington.  The  road  is  in  excellent  or- 
der, and  has  nothing  dangerous  or  trying  to  ordinary  nerves 
about  it.  I  rode  up  and  down  without  one  single  misstep 
on  the  part  of  my  sure-footed  beast.  The  ascent  took  two 
hours  and  twenty  minutes,  the  descent  one  hour  and  three- 
quarters.  There  was  no  serious  fatigue  to  the  young  ladies 
whom  I  accompanied,  who  rode,  or  even  to  the  young  gentle- 
men who  walked,  both  ways.  The  views  on  ascending  from 
Weggis  are  a  perpetual  feast,  as  one  after  another  the  turns 
in  the  path  bring  the  climber  into  wider  and  loftier  views  of 
the  lake  with  its  bold  or  verdant  shores,  or  of  the  outer 
ranges  of  mountains  which  come  gradually  more  and  more 
into  the  prospect.  The  lower  flanks  of  the  Rigi  are  beauti- 
fully green  and  productive,  and  all  the  autumn  fruits  were  of- 
fered to  us  as  we  passed  through  them  —  peaches,  pears, 
plums,  figs  and  grapes,  the  last  two  in  high  perfection.  A 
little  farther  up  a  magnificent  precijoice,  like  the  Palisades, 
lies  directly  across  the  path,  its  beautiful  blue  rock  tiled  into 
courses  of  diagonal  masonry.  The  boulders  that  have  fallen 
from  it  lie  in  grotesque  shapes,  tending  always  to  the  pyra- 
midal form,  along  the  path  of  the  ascent,  and  the  path  winds 


Ascent  of  Rigi.  i73 

in  and  out  among  them  in  a  delightful  way,  often  producing 
a  kind  of  cave  effect.  The  stone  is,  curiously  enough,  the 
same  old  pudding-stone  that  prevails  in  such  perfection  in 
Roxbury,  Mass. 

The  path  surmounts  this  precipice  by  a  lucky  shelf,  and 
after  shouldering  what  from  the  bottom  looks  like  the 
only  mountain  to  be  climbed,  emerges  upon  the  real  Rigi,  and 
by  a  somewhat  more  precipitous  but  still  easy  ascent  passing 
the  Kaltbad — a  hotel  inaccessible  to  any  wheel  vehicle,  two- 
thirds  the  way  up — where  many  people  pass  months  and 
whole  summers  as  the  most  attractive  and  wholesome  spot 
they  can  find  ;  and  the  Rigistatter,  within  a  half-mile  of  the 
summit — another  comfortable  hotel — attains  the  Kulm  or 
crest  of  the  Rigi.  There  a  large  hotel  of  most  comfortable 
accommodations,  and  a  pension  about  as  large,  stand  ready 
to  afford  shelter  and  food  to  about  three  hundred  persons  at 
a  time ;  and  there  we  found  ourselves  on  this  somewhat  un- 
certain night  (when  very  prudent  mountaineers  predicted  no 
prospect),  in  the  midst  of  what  seemed  to  us,  for  such  a  place, 
the  astonishing  company  of  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  persons,  perhaps  only  about  the  average  gather- 
ing every  night  during  the  season  of  four  months.  At  about 
half  the  distance  up  we  had  come  suddenly  into  a  stratum  of 
cloud  quite  dense  and  cold,  which  obscured  perfectly  every 
thing  below  and  above,  and  shut  us  up  in  a  world  of  mist, 
which,  for  aught  we  knew,  reached  to  the  zenith.  But  a  half- 
mile  of  climbing  carried  us  out  of  it  quite  as  suddenly  as  we 
came  into  it,  and  in  a  moment  more  put  it  at  our  feet  as  com- 
pletely as  a  lake  lies  at  the  feet  of  one  walking  on  its  bank. 
A  half-mile  farther  up,  this  world  of  cloud,  as  it  had  seemed, 
was  a  little  layer  of  cotton-wool  floating  in  a  clear  heaven, 
and  obscuring  only  that  particular  and  exceptional  portion 
of  the  landscape  over  which  it  hung.     Above,  a  cloudless 


174  The  Old  World  in  its  N'l'ii.i  Face. 

day  reigned  supreme,  wliile  another  brilliant  day  was  shining 
below  it. 

We  arrived  at  the  summit  about  6^  p.m.,  in  ample  time  to 
enjoy  the  sunset  and  to  study  the  effects  of  the  too-swiftly 
fading  light.  The  sun  descends  so  slowly  upon  mountain- 
tops  that  there  are  few  of  those  lightings-up  of  the  clouds  and 
higher  grounds  which  often  in  sunsets  seen  from  plains  or 
low  places  make  the  after-glory  more  brilliant  and  beautiful 
than  the  moment  of  the  great  luminary's  disappearance. 
The  sun  sets  on  Rigi  once  and  for  all.  His  slant-beams, 
while  he  is  above  the  horizon,  gild  the  snow  peaks  with  a 
peculiar  splendor,  and  all  the  mountains  round  look  as  if 
gathered,  with  their  crowns  upon  their  heads,  to  pay  homage 
to  their  returning  lord  !  It  is  a  beautiful  and  a  solemn  sight 
to  behold  !  The  moment  he  is  gone  the  world  is  changed, 
and  glooms  gather  quickly  around  all  mountain  faces.  I 
confess  I  did  not  pay  much  attention  to  the  landscape  at  our 
feet  in  the  midst  of  these  pinnacles  of  snow  and  rock. 
Seven  great  waves  of  rock,  tossed  into  granite  spray,  with 
foaming  caps  of  snow  and  ice,  were  before  me ;  gulfs  of 
yawning  space  separated  these  mountain  waves.  A  Titanic 
storm  stood  petrified  in  the  prospect.  An  ocean  of  molten 
rock,  lashed  to  fury  by  volcanic  blasts,  caught  in  the  acme  of 
its  rage,  lay  frozen  in  its  wrath,  rigid  and  changeless. 

The  prettiness  of  blue  lakes  and  happy  villages  and  fertile 
cultivation  seemed  impertinent,  and  I  saw  nothing  of  them 
until  the  next  morning,  and  only  then  after  having  exhausted 
wonder  and  delight  upon  the  upward  vision.  The  horn  (no 
dryad  wound  its  horrid  changes)  waked  us  at  4J  a.m.,  and 
with  a  hasty  toilet,  fifteen  minutes  found  us  in  a  company  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  expectants  (evidently  very  few  of  them 
acquainted  with  either  the  time,  place  or  manner  of  the  sun's 
rising)  watching  the  break  of  day  and  the  appearance  of 


A  Sunrise  Chorus.  175 

Apollo.  Some  looked  with  desperate  obstinacy  at  the  place 
where  the  sun  went  down,  as  if  they  expected  him  to  return 
in  the  same  spot.  Others  near  me  were  disputing  which  was 
east  and  which  west,  and  one  gentleman  frankly  confessed 
that  he  had  all  his  life  been  under  the  impression  that  when 
the  east  was  on  his  right  and  the  west  on  his  left  he  was  al- 
ways facing  south  !  Already  a  belt  of  delicate  rose  went 
the  complete  circuit  of  the  horizon,  the  eastern  half  of  it  low 
down,  the  other  half  a  little  above  the  highest  mountain-tops. 
As  the  sun  suddenly  shot  his  first  rays  from  the  upper  limb, 
the  range  of  the  Jung-frau  melted  into  a  delicate  yellow,  and 
deepening  in  tone,  soon  glowed  with  golden  hues.  The 
lower  ranges  caught  up  the  theme,  and  soon  a  chorus  of 
praise,  all  in  tones  of  light,  resounded  from  the  mountain- 
tops,  inaudibly  singing  Milton's  sublime  hymn,  "  Hail,  holy 
light !  offspring  of  heaven,  first-born  of  the  eternal,"  etc.,  as 
the  sun  swiftly  rose,  for  he  comes  rejoicing  like  a  strong  man 
to  run  a  race.  The  forms  of  the  outer  mountains  began  to 
show  themselves  in  shadow  upon  the  slopes  behind  them  ; 
the  mist  which  lay  stowed  away  in  solid  coils  in  the  holds 
of  the  valleys  began  at  once  to  stir  and  turn  over,  and  slowly 
rifts  opened  in  what  seemed  a  firm  and  motionless  lake  of 
flaky  snow,  and  showed  the  blue  waters  of  Zug  below.  An 
hour  after  sunrise  the  mountains  looked  as  if  they  had  never 
known  night — all  brilliant  and  wide-awake,  and  more  beauti- 
ful, if  possible,  than  earlier.  For,  bating  the  force  of  contrast 
and  the  charm  of  the  level  rays,  there  is  a  superior  glory 
in  the  ampleness  of  the  light  for  an  hour  or  two  after  sunrise, 
which  makes  it  finer  than  sunrise  itself  Nine-tenths  of  all 
the  company  on  the  Rigi  evidently  did  not  think  so.  They 
came  up  to  see  the  sun  set  and  rise,  and  ten  minutes  after  he 
rose  they  all  went  in  to  breakfast,  or  to  their  toilets,  as  they 
would  have  gone  away  from  a  play  when  the  curtain  fell. 


176  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

The  sheep-like  way  in  which  the  crowds  of  tourists  follow 
their  leaders  through  Switzerland,  doing  up  the  things  to 
be  done,  admiring  what  is  set  down  to  be  admired,  and  seldom 
asking  themselves  one  serious  question  as  to  what  impression 
is  really  made  upon  their  own  minds  and  senses,  is  something 
incredible  till  one  has  seen  it,  and  half  makes  one  doubt  the 
possibility  of  freeing  the  masses  of  human  beings  from  the 
moulds  of  a  few  shaping  minds. 

The  descent  from  this  point  brought  us  rapidly  into  those 
charming  half-height  mountain  views  which,  for  all  details, 
are  so  much  lovelier  and  more  enjoyable  than  the  sweeps 
from  the  summits.  The  lake  of  Lucerne,  just  as  blue  as  the 
sky,  seemed  the  other  half  of  an  azure  globe  of  crystal,  which, 
with  the  concave  above,  had  caught  the  mountains  on  the 
shore,  and  held  them  in  the  centre  of  this  beauteous  sphere 
of  solid  light.  Nothing  since  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
and  a  few  miles  of  the  coast  at  Beverly,  Mass.,  ever  seemed 
so  lovely  as  the  notches  in  the  shore,  green  as  emeralds, 
which,  jutting  and  retreating,  give,  on  the  north  of  the  little 
town  of  Weggis,  a  paradisaical  aspect  to  a  half-mile  of  the 
lake  bank.  We  could  hardly  bear  to  descend  from  our 
coignes  of  vantage  to  the  level  of  the  world,  which  lay  below 
us;  but  hunger  gave  swiftness  to  our  horses,  and,  after  all, 
emotions  weary  in  proportion  to  their  intensity,  and  I  will  not 
deny  that,  at  10  a.m.,  we  drank  our  bitter  beer  at  the  foot  of 
the  Rigi  with  a  capital  relish,  in  spite  of  all  the  romance  which 
had  sweetened  the  five  morning  hours  of  that  memorable 
day. 

Sunday,  Sept.  i. 

This  morning  a  dozen  Unitarians,  who  happened  to  be 
spending  Sunday  in  the  same  hotel,  met  privately  at  the 
usual  hour  of  worship,  10^  a.m.,  and  had  a  regular  religious 


The  English  Church.  177 

service.  Unitarians  have  the  great  advantage  of  respecting 
all  forms  of  Christian  faith  and  worship,  and  of  being  able 
to  join,  without  any  offense  to  their  consciences,  or  any  sur- 
render of  their  personal  convictions,  in  all  serious  acts  of 
praise  and  prayer,  however  erroneous  may  be  the  dogmatic 
form  in  which  the  worship  is  couched.  The  toleration  and 
liberalit}'  of  construction  in  which  they  are  reared,  makes 
them  less  anxious  when  abroad  to  enjoy  their  own  special 
creed  and  worship  than  most  Christians  ;  and  it  is,  I  believe, 
better,  when  people  are  traveling,  to  mingle  with  and  partici- 
pate in  the  Christian  worship  that  prevails  in  the  place,  than 
to  set  up  or  seek  out  their  own.  For  so  only  is  true  knowl- 
edge of  others'  religious  opinions  and  customs  to  be  obtained, 
and  that  breadth  of  view  and  charity  of  judgment  encouraged, 
the  want  of  which  has  created  the  persecution,  bigotry  and 
fanaticism  of  the  Christian  world.  Still,  it  was  very  sweet, 
when  it  came  in  so  unforced  a  way,  to  meet  "according 
minds,"  and  to  worship  God  in  a  foreign  land  after  the  man- 
ner and  spirit  of  our  simple  faith,  with  a  knot  of  Unitarian 
Christians. 

.The  English  Church  deserves  praise,  and  it  certainly  thus 
pursues  a  very  self-saving  policy,  for  the  efforts  it  makes  to 
establish  its  missionary  chapels  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
where  its  disciples  are  likely  to  spend  any  fragmentary  por- 
tion of  time,  or  to  be  found  in  any  numbers.  Nothing  can 
give  a  better  impression  of  the  power  of  the  English  Es- 
tablishment than  the  overflow  of  its  energy  and  working 
strength.  Not  a  town  of  any  magnitude,  not  a  watering- 
place  of  note  is  to  be  found  on  the  Continent,  in  which  an 
English  Episcopal  service  is  not  heard  on  the  Sunday  morn- 
ings and  evenings  of  the  traveling  months  of  the  year. 
Doubtless  the  punctiliousness  with  which  the  English  hunt 
up  their  own  church,  prayer-book  in  hand,  does  something 

H  2 


178  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

to  continue  the  narrowness  and  formality  of  their  faith  ;  but 
on  the  whole,  the  effect  is  good.  The  English  piety  is  form- 
al, ritualistic,  but  it  is  robust  and  substantial.  It  does 
not  diffuse  itself  like  a  universal  spirit  through  life,  but  it 
keeps  certain  precious  truths  and  principles  under  a  very 
strong  police,  and  makes  them  efficacious  and  fruitful.  In 
the  absence  of  better  things,  which  can  come  only  with  great 
pains,  the  religion  of  England  in  its  Establishment  is  to  be 
vastly  respected,  and  its  spread  over  Englishmen  encouraged. 
It  is  curious  to  notice  how  strictly  iiational  it  is,  and  how  lit- 
tle power  it  has  to  carry  itself  beyond  the  sway  of  the  En- 
glish flag.     It  is  as  insular  as  the  politics  of  Great  Britain. 

Lucerne  is  as  Catholic  as  Zurich  is  Protestant.  I  found 
the  old  cathedral  here  thronged  with  worshipers  at  seven  in 
the  morning  of  an  ordinary  week-day.  There  must  have  been 
at  least  thirty  priests  engaged  in  the  service.  The  vitality  of 
the  church  is  indicated  by  a  magnificent  organ  four  years  old, 
which  equals  in  power  and  purity  any  I  ever  heard.  It  was 
built  in  Lucerne  by  Haas.  It  is  played  twice  every  day  for 
one  hour,  and  furnishes  a  favorite  resort  for  travelers.  I 
stumbled  into  the  church  first  at  the  very  hour  the  organ  was 
being  exhibited,  and  with  no  knowledge  of  its  merits,  and  of 
course  without  any  special  expectations.  But  the  hush  of  the 
little  audience  showed  that  something  unusual  was  going  on, 
and  it  required  only  a  few  minutes  to  bring  me  wholly  under 
the  spell  of  the  most  magical  stops  that  I  had  ever  listened 
to.  The  player,  I  found  after  a  second  hearing,  was  not  a 
very  great  one,  but  the  organ  itself  was  wonderful,  and  he 
understood  perfectly  how  to  exhibit  it,  undertaking  only  what 
he  could  do  with  entire  success.  The  power  of  the  full 
organ  was  immense,  and  as  sweet  as  it  was  powerful.  I 
could  compare  it  only  to  the  effect  of  a  great  park  of  artillery 
heard  at  a  distance  sufficient  to  mellow  the  thunder.     But 


A  Great  Organ.  i7y 

the  7WX  humana  was  the  specialty  of  this  organ,  and  certain- 
ly nothing  more  successful  in  the  way  of  imitation  was  ever 
done.  At  first,  after  a  bold  introduction  of  the  full  organ, 
we  heard  a  choir  of  children's  voices,  singing  apparently  in 
a  neighboring  cloister ;  then  a  chorus  of  men's  voices  took 
up  the  strain,  and  came  nearer  and  nearer  as  if  one  and  then 
another  door  between  us  and  them  had  been  opened.  I  could 
not  persuade  myself  for  a  long  time  that  a  choir  was  not  con- 
cealed in  some  adjoining  apartment ;  but  it  was  finally  clear 
that  no  choir  could  keep  such  time  and  agree  together  in 
such  expression.  Nothing  by  tones  more  human  or  more 
angelic  was  ever  permitted  to  visit  my  ears;  at  times  the 
mighty  instrument  was  subdued  to  the  gentleness  of  an  in- 
fant's breathing,  and  we  all  held  our  breath  not  to  lose  the 
least  sigh  of  its  decaying  harmony.  It  seemed  as  if  a  choir 
of  seraphs  had  strayed  out  of  heaven  and  were  overheard  by 
chance  as  they  flew  by. 

A  few  moments  after  we  had  a  storm,  which,  however  of- 
fensive, considered  as  an  abuse  of  music,  was  a  marvelous 
exhibition  of  the  quality  and  power  of  the  instrument,  and  of 
the  practiced  skill  of  the  performer.  The  first  sobs  of  the 
rising  tempest,  the  distant  thunder,  the  shrilling  of  the  breeze, 
the  sweep  of  the  winds,  the  pattering  of  the  rain,  and  all  the 
voices  of  troubled  nature  were  given  with  telling  power.  I 
of  course  was  eager  to  know  the  master  of  this  famous  in- 
strument. What  was  my  surprise  to  see  a  grave  old  gen- 
tleman, in  knee  breeches  and  silk  stockings,  crooked  and 
scholarly,  come  down  from  the  organ  loft,  and  answer — to 
my  self-introduction — as  the  organist  of  the  cathedral.  He 
was  modest  and  dignified,  and  might  have  been  old  Handel 
himself  so  far  as  fitness  of  looks  was  concerned.  It  was 
quite  charming  to  talk  with  him  in  bad  German  about  his 
instrument,  and  about  sacred  music  generally.     We  promised 


i8o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

to  come  again  in  the  evening,  about  twilight,  to  hear  the 
organ.  A  half-dozen  tall  tapers  lighted  the  dim  cathedral, 
and  a  hundred  persons  sat  for  an  hour  in  absolute  stillness 
while  the  old  man  played.  It  was  very  charming,  but  it  was 
the  second  time ! 

The  lion,  of  Thorwaldsen's  design,  cut  in  the  living  rock  of 
the  stony  hill-side  just  out  of  Lucerne,  continues,  just  what  it 
struck  me  as  being  twenty  years  ago,  one  of  the  most 
thoroughly  expressive  and  pertinent  monuments  in  all  Eu- 
rope. It  commemorates  the  fidelity  of  the  Swiss  guard,  who 
at  the  peril  of  their  lives  protected  Louis  and  his  family  in  the 
storming  of  the  Tuileries  in  1792.  "It  represents  a  lion  of 
colossal  size  wounded  to  death,  with  a  spear  sticking  in  his 
side,  yet  endeavoring  in  his  last  gasp  to  protect  from  injury  a 
shield,  bearing  the  fleur-de-lis  of  the  Bourbons,  which  he  holds 
in  his  paws.  The  figure,  hewn  from  living  stone,  is  twenty- 
eight  feet  long  and  eighteen  high."  The  human  expression 
of  anguish  and  fidelity  which  the  artist  has  thrown  into  the 
lion's  face,  is  something  more  suggestive  of  the  common  na- 
ture that  binds  the  animal  creation  together  than  compara- 
tive anatomy  could  ever  tell.  If  men  are  sometimes  beast- 
ly, beasts  are  sometimes  more  human  than  their  masters. 


XVII. 

•  SWITZERLAND. 

Interlachen,  September  3,  1867. 

TT  was  hard  to  say  farewell  to  such  loveliness  as  passes 
under  the  name  of  Lucerne  !  The  early  morning  light 
had  converted  her  proud  diadem  of  mountains  into  a  rosy 
crown,  as  we  turned  for  a  last  fond  look  on  the  fairest  Queen 
of  Lakes,  to  whom  we  vowed  eternal  loyalty.  How  blue 
those  calm  waters,  how  green  those  overlapping  tongues  of 
land,  how  grey  those  jagged  precipices  of  rocks,  how  white 
those  pinnacles  of  snow,  how  red  those  tiled  roofs,  how  black 
those  shore-shadows !  Proud  Pilatus,  whose  ruffled  crest 
sternly  bounds  the  Southern  horizon  ;  mild,  social  Rigi,  over 
whose  crowded  inn  no  cloud  hangs  at  sunrise  this  morning, 
adieu ! 

Our  road  to  Interlachen  lay  as  far  as  Alpnach  mostly  on 
the  lake  shore,  between  which  and  the  crowding  flanks  of 
Pilatus  it  had  often  hard  work  to  find  room.  The  abun- 
dance of  stone  and  the  cheapness  of  labor  secure  a  quality 
of  road  in  Europe  never  seen  in  America.  Endless  walls  of 
rock,  sheer  as  a  plumb  line,  lift  up  the  lake  and  mountain 
roads  of  Switzerland,  and  bring  the  traveler  in  his  cushioned 
carriage  face  to  face  with  the  wildest  scenes.  What  is  to  be 
reached  elsewhere  only  by  perilous  and  fatiguing  exposure, 
is  here  attainable  without  labor  or  danger.  The  tenderest 
invalid  may  travel  in  the  most  picturesque  parts  of  Switzer- 
land, and  find  ever)-where  the  most  skillful  and  luxurious  ar- 


1 82  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiu  Face. 

rangements  to  carry  him  to  every  point  of  interest  without  per- 
sonal exertion.  Strong  porters,  with  easy-chairs,  make  light 
of  carrying  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  asthmatic  or  rheu- 
matic or  consumptive  flesh  over  a  mountain  pass  seven  hundred 
feet  high.  With  money  in  one's  pocket  (especially  with  French 
Napoleons)  one  may  go  anywhere  in  Switzerland — man, 
woman  or  child — in  the  arms  of  never-tiring  guides.  All  the 
life  of  this  people  is  passed  in  carrying  burdens.  The  little 
children  of  four  years  old  are  seen  with  baskets,  fitted  to  their 
years  and  their  backs,  making  their  mountain  climbs.  The 
young  women,  buried  beneath  sixty  and  seventy  weight  of 
grass — great  walking  hay-cocks — come  down  from  the  upper 
pastures  as  briskly  as  though  they  carried  nothing  but  their 
light  hearts.  All  the  wood  burned  in  the  frequent  hotels  up 
near  the  snow  lines,  with  all  the  food  for  horses  and  man, 
goes  up  on  the  backs  of  men  and  women.  I  found  the 
women  carrying  sixty  pounds  five  miles  up  the  Rigi.  The 
guide  said  he  often  walked  up  and  down  three  times  a  day. 
Such  training  of  muscles  is  wonderful. 

One  sees  in  these  mountainous  countries  how  literal  is 
the  force  of  sayings,  which  have  become  purely  metaphorical 
in  level  and  modern  lands,  such  as,  "  The  back  is  made  for 
the  burden."  Every  Swiss  and  Tyrolean  back  certainly  is. 
The  wooden  buckets  in  which  these  mountaineers  carry  their 
milk  and  their  water  are  very  deep,  and  flat  on  the  side  that 
comes  to  the  back,  oval  rather  than  round.  The  pails  or 
piggins  with  which  they  go  to  the  fountain  (they  have  no  need 
of  wells,  and  their  water  is  usually  running)  are  without  bails, 
with  a  long  handle  on  one  side,  the  lengthening  of  one  of 
the  staves.  They  manage  them  very  deftly.  The  fountains 
— every  village  has  three  or  four — are  the  centres  of  meet- 
ing ;  horses,  dogs,  goats,  men,  women,  children,  are  always 
coming  to  drink.     The  family  washing  is  usually  done  there. 


Swiss  Houses.  183 

Nobody  drinks  from  a  cup  at  the  fountain,  but  applies  the 
mouth  to  the  water-pipe,  without  choking  or  getting  drenched. 
The  hot  horses  from  the  diUgence,  trained  not  to  drink  when 
warm,  come  and  stand  obediently  to  have  water  dashed  in 
their  nostrils  without  presuming  to  touch  the  trough  with 
their  panting  mouths.  By  the  way,  the  only  horses  with 
freshly  polished  hoofs  I  ever  saw,  were  in  the  post  at  Sarnen 
this  morning.  They  looked  as  if  they  might  have  left  their 
shoes  outside  the  door  to  be  blacked,  as  the  passengers  had 
done.  It  is  strange  how  little  effect  the  immense  incursion 
of  foreigners  has  had  upon  Swiss  architecture.  It  preserves, 
either  from  policy  or  from  persistency  of  habit,  its  ancient 
forms.  And  although  very  heavy  in  timber,  it  is  curiously 
like  the  Chinese  pagoda  style  in  general  effect.  The  base  is 
the  narrowest  part  of  the  house,  which  spreads  like  an  umbrel- 
la. It  is  no  wonder  that  with  the  immense  purchase  which  its 
broad  eaves  and  the  copings  over  the  successive  stories  give 
the  wind,  the  houses  and  barns  should  require  to  be  ballast- 
ed with  very  heavy  stones  on  the  roof,  to  keep  them  from 
blowing  away.  They  are  usually  without  cellars,  the  base- 
ment answering  that  purpose.  The  windows  are  usually 
glazed  with  very  small  glass.  Sometimes  very  pretty  carv- 
ing decorates  the  timbers  and  string-courses.  The  furnish- 
ing of  even  the  best  seems  very  meagre,  and  the  ideas  of 
domestic  comfort  exceedingly  low  and  poor.  The  barns  are 
very  solid  structures,  and  often  better  than  the  houses.  The 
general  idea  given  in  all  the  smaller  villages  and  on  the 
mountain  slopes  is  that  only  ceaseless  and  very  laborious  in- 
dustry keeps  soul  and  body  together.  Hemp  and  flax  are 
grown  in  small  parcels  near  every  cottage,  and  the  people 
are  often  seen,  especially  on  the  southern  side  of  the  mount- 
ains, tending  catde  or  goats,  with  the  distaff  in  their  hands. 
The  beating  of  flax  is  another  common  occupation.     They 


184  The  Old  World  in  its  Netv  Face. 

spin  and  weave  their  own  linen.  The  women  work  as  hard 
as  the  men  ;  and  the  old  people  (and  many  are  very  prema- 
turely old)  are  often  seen  carrying  crushing  burdens.  While 
the  children  are  numerous  and  singularly  pretty,  spite  of  their 
tow-heads,  exposure  and  hard  work  seem  to  coarsen  the  girls 
so  rapidly  that  even  their  picturesque  bodices  and  white, 
stiff,  leg-of-mutton  sleeves  can't  redeem  them.  The  men  are 
better  looking  than  the  women — which  is  true  wherever 
women  work  as  hard  as  men.  The  drivers  of  carriages, 
the  guides  and  the  men  we  fall  in  with,  please  us  by  their 
seeming  integrity  and  unspoiled  manners.  Really  few  peo- 
ple could  stand  the  corrupting  influence  of  an  annual  invasion 
of  pleasure-seekers,  so  well.  The  main  roads  are,  at  this 
season,  thronged  with  carriages  and  foot  travelers,  so  that  at 
the  little  village  of  Lungern  yesterday,  where  we  stopped  to 
dine  at  noon,  there  must  have  been,  at  a  poor  little  inn,  in  a 
mean  little  town,  twenty  voitures,  and  at  least  fifty  travelers 
waiting  for  dinner.  A  daily  table  d'hote  for  a  hundred  guests 
waits  to  catch  at  the  half-way  place  the  appetite  of  the  crowds 
swinging  between  Lucerne  and  Interlachen.  At  every  inn 
there  is  a  sale  of  Swiss  wooden-ware.  It  is  the  chief  me- 
chanical industry  of  the  country,  and  at  the  main  points,  doz- 
ens of  shops  are  opened  for  its  sale.  Much  of  it  is  really  ar- 
tistic in  style  and  execution.  It  is  so  common  as  to  destroy 
its  own  charm.  The  difficulty  of  getting  it  home  safely  is 
another  obstacle  to  its  purchase,  but  spite  of  that  and  of  the 
duties,  few  travelers,  for  the  first  time  in  the  country,  can  resist 
the  temptation  to  burden  themselves  with  these  carvings  of 
wood. 

A  beautiful  road  has  supplanted  the  bridle-path  by  which, 
nineteen  years  ago,  I  passed  over  the  Brunig.  A  heav}- 
shower  covered  the  whole  lower  part  of  the  lake  of  Brienz,  as 
we  looked  down  the  valley  of  Meyringen  and  the  course  of 


The   yung-frau.  185 

the  Aar  as  it  shot  into  the  lake.  The  celebrated  water-falls 
of  Meyringen  were  all  in  view  at  one  moment.  They  hang 
this  deep  valley  with  milk-white  garlands.  Some  of  them 
plunge,  in  their  united  bounds,  over  a  thousand  feet.  By  6 
o'clock  the  clouds  broke  into  beautiful  silver-edged  masses, 
letting  the  deep  blue  through  in  charming  splendor  and  under 
the  welcome  of  the  clearing  shower.  We  passed  Brienz  and 
the  cataract  of  the  Giessbach  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  by 
a  rapid  drive  through  wooded  fields  and  under  towering 
cliffs,  but  always  on,  or  just  over,  the  lake  shore,  we  watched 
the  approach  to  Interlachen,  waiting  impatiently  to  see  the 
Jung-frau  peering  through  the  gorge  that  faces  that  unique 
spot.  But  crane  our  necks  as  we  would,  that  cold-bosomed 
nymph  reserved  her  charms.  Either  veiled  in  mist  as  we 
feared,  or  else  changed  in  place  (or  was  it  only  we  whose 
memory  had  failed  ?),  we  got  no  glimpse  of  that  fair  damsel, 
until  in  the  very  town  itself,  she  suddenly  looked  out,  her 
white  neck  blushing  with  the  sun's  directed  gaze,  but  her  head 
lofty  and  glistening  with  a  radiance  of  diamonds,  and  seemed 
to  take  at  once  complete  possession  of  the  place.  The  val- 
ley of  the  Ltitschine,  with  the  Schynige-platte  on  one  side 
and  the  Morgen-berg  on  the  other,  forms  the  glorious  frame 
through  which  the  great  picture  of  the  Jung-frau  is  seen,  and, 
green  and  snowless,  they  present  the  most  vivid  contrast  with 
this  solitary  peak,  which,  isolated,  or  rather  cut  off  by  the  nar- 
rowness of  the  view,  is  grandly  distinct,  and  like  a  wondrous 
"pearl  hung  in  an  Ethiop's  ear."  The  world  has  occupied 
the  mouth  of  this  valley  (Lauterbrunnen)  with  the  finest  look- 
outs— in  the  shape  of  a  row  of  elegant  hotels — a  dozen,  prob- 
ably, accommodating  two  thousand  visitors  at  a  time,  the 
number  of  persons  that  daily  come  to  pay  homage  to  this 
prospect.  Perhaps  there  is  no  parallel  to  this  costly  compli- 
ment.    Niagara  itself  has  not  such  a  collection  of  prepara- 


1 86  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

tions  to  meet  the  influx  of  daily  visitors.  A  smooth  meadow 
lies  between  the  range  of  the  hotels  and  the  mouth  of  the  val- 
ley down  which  the  Jung-frau  looks.  Back  of  the  hotels  rises 
a  sheer  precipice,  leaving  only  room  for  a  Kursaal  and  public 
grounds.  Last  night  the  young  moon  had  little  power,  but 
this  immense  precipice,  as  black  as  ink  in  its  shadow,  lay 
against  the  starry  sky  in  an  outline  as  sharp  as  steel,  and 
while  the  head  lay  back  on  the  shoulders  to  reach  the  place 
where  heaven  began,  I  thought  I  had  rarely  seen  so  magnifi- 
cent a  contrast  as  this  under-gloom  and  the  glory  above. 
This  morning  the  Jung-frau  bade  me  "  Guten-tag  "  as  I  rose 
from  bed  with  the  sunrise,  and  in  cloudless  beauty,  all  day 
long,  she  has  been  sending  her  ice-cold  smiles  down  into  the 
hot  valley  to  cool  our  thoughts  if  not  our  tongues.  It  is  hot- 
ter here  this  3d  Sept.  than  perhaps  at  any  previous  day  of 
the  summer.  Yesterday,  Sept.  2,  we  climbed  the  Jung-frau- 
blick,  a  little  pyramidal  hill,  posted  one  side  of  the  gorge  in 
front  of  the  Jung-frau,  as  if  nature,  in  love  with  her  landscape, 
had  ended  with  making  a  gallery  to  see  it  from.  The  two 
lakes,  not  visible  from  the  plain  below,  came  into  the  pros- 
pect here,  and  at  the  Thun  end,  some  mountains  so  perfectly 
regular  in  shape,  that  the  Egyptian  Pyramids  can  not  surpass 
them  in  artificial  outline.  Between  the  foot  of  our  outlook 
and  the  opening  valley  of  Lauterbrunnen,  stretched  meadow 
as  level  as  that  at  the  foot  of  Holyoke,  and  green  as  that  is  in 
early  June.  The  white  roads  glistened  like  chalk  lines  upon 
a  blackboard,  as  they  wound  round  boundaries  and  through 
scattered  trees,  and  lost  themselves  behind  the  slopes  that 
overlap  each  other  at  the  entrance  of  the  gorge.  No  way 
seemed  open  or  possible  for  any  carriage  road,  yet  the  great 
road  to  Lauterbrunnen  and  to  Grindelwald  lies  through  it. 
The  Jung-frau  revealed  half  her  own  height,  and  spread  her 
shoulders  until  she  seemed  to  cover  all  the  southern  hori- 


Tyrolese  Singi?ig.  187 

zon.  The  silver  horn  for  the  first  time  came  into  view.  It 
was  near  sunset,  and  whatever  views  Mt.  Blanc  and  Mt.  Rosa 
may  have  in  reserve  for  us,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  any  snow 
peak  can  ever  charm  and  awe  us  more  than  this  did.  Usual- 
ly the  grand  views  lack  unity.  They  are  picture  galleries 
and  not  independent  pictures.  I  remember  nothing  in  all 
Switzerland  which  possesses  the  emphatic  unity  of  the  Jung- 
frau  seen  from  twenty  points  at  Interlachen. 

We  went  at  9  p.m.  into  the  Kursaal  to  hear  a  special  con- 
cert from  a  choir  of  Tyrolean  singers.     They  were  peasants 
refined  by  traveling ;  three  men  and  two  women ;  all  stout, 
mountain-grown  persons,  broad  in   the  shoulders,  erect  and 
vigorous  in  the  extreme.     Their  voices  were  truly  national 
and  characteristic,  as  if  formed  to  drown  cataracts,  out-dis- 
tance dividing  valleys,  and  reach  from  lower  to  upper  pas- 
tures.    The  women  possessed  a  quantity  and  quality  of  voice 
such  as  I   never  heard  proceed  from  female  lungs  before. 
With  as  much  body  as  any  masculine  voices,  they  were  clear 
as  bells  and  capable  of  a  shrillness  that  pierced  your  marrow. 
The  contralto  might  have  beat  Alborii  at  her  best  in  profun- 
dity.    Their  songs  were  all  Tyrolean,  and  they  gave  us  every 
variety  of  the  jodel.     It  is  hard  to  call  that  curious  falsetto 
singing.     It  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  change  from  the  throat 
notes  to  the  head  notes,  with  a  deliberate  disappointment  of 
the  full  note,  which  is  flatted  a  quarter  instead  of  a  half-tone. 
It  seems  to  be  an  imitation  of  the  way  in  which  animal  and 
other  sounds  are  broken  and  modified  by  great  heights.     It 
was  a  wonder  to  see  how  little  the  natural  quality  of  the 
voices  of  these  singers  was  injured  by  this  trick,  which  must 
be  a  terrible  strain  on  the  vocal  chords.     The  zither,  a  sort 
of  violin  without  a  hollow  body,  was  skillfully  played  by  one 
of  the  company.     It  has  great  plaintive  power  but  little  body 
of  sound.     An  instrument  made  of  bits  of  resonant  wood, 


1 88  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

with  tones  like  the  babbling  of  water  over  stones,  was  very 
pleasantly  beaten  with  two  little  mallets  in  waltz  time,  and 
made  a  curious  variety  in  the  concert.  The  natural,  unpre- 
tending, yet  self-possessed  manner  and  bearing  of  these  sing- 
ers was  thoroughly  prepossessing. 

GIESSBACH. 

September  5. 

We  spent  the  night  at  this  celebrated  spot,  which  draws 
daily  two  or  three  hundred  visitors  off  their  route  to  witness 
the  illumination  of  the  Falls.     About  ten  miles  from  Inter- 
lachen  and  nearly  opposite  the  town  of  Brienz  on  the  lake  of 
that  name,  a  torrent  precipitates  itself,  by  a  series  of  five 
leaps,  into  the  lake,  over  a  finely  wooded  but  most  abrupt 
mountain  face  of  perhaps  1500  feet  in  height.     The  Fall  is 
very  pretty,  seen  from  the  lake,  where,  however,  only  a  small 
portion  of  it  is  visible.     About  two  hundred  feet  above  the 
lake  an  unexpected  plateau  of  charming  shape  opens,  on 
which  the  steamboat  company  have  erected  a  large  hotel, 
inaccessible  by  any  carriage  road  along  the  shore,  but  to 
which  they  furnish  very  pleasant  conveyance  in  their  steamer. 
Here,  amid  delightful  prospects  and  well-arranged  grounds, 
is  a  resort  of  unique  description,  so  enchanting  that  it  forces 
a  continued  stream  of  travel  from  its  course,  to  make  at  least 
the  pilgrimage  of  a  night  to  this  out-of-the-way  spot.     The 
Falls  themselves,  by  day-light,  are  beautiful,  but  by  no  means 
more  so  than  twenty  others  in  Switzerland.     They  are  neither 
more  copious,  bold,  lofty,  nor  finely  situated  than  several  in 
the  valley  of  Meyringen  close  by.     A  steep  climb  of  half  an  , 
hour  carries  the  enterprising  visitor  to  their  top,  giving  him 
pleasant  views  of  the  lake  below,  and  of  each  shoot,  passing 
him  directly  behind  the  finest,  which  looks  more  like  a  vio- 
lent snow-storm  than  any  thing  else,  seen  from  its  rear.     The 


A  Fairy  Spectacle.  i8g 

tug  up  the  hill,  over  roots  and  rocks,  especially  in  the  twi- 
light, when  we  made  it,  hardly  rewarded  our  painstaking, 
except  as  a  preparation  for  the  succeeding  illumination.  At 
about  half-past  eight  of  the  moonless  evening,  when  heavy 
clouds  added  special  darkness  to  the  night,  the  three  hun- 
dred visitors  who  had  assembled  at  the  proper  point  of  view 
— most  conveniently  furnished  near  the  restaurant,  twenty 
rods  below  the  hotel — began  to  see  mysterious  lights,  mov- 
ing briskly  by  zigzag  routes  up  the  face  of  the  black  preci- 
pice before  them.  The  faintest  ghost  of  the  Fall  could  be 
just  made  out  in  the  gloom,  by  a  broken  line  of  less  perfect 
blackness  on  the  face  of  the  mountain.  At  least  a  half-hour 
passed  while  we  watched  these  human  Will-o'-the-wisps  that 
were  fitfully  dancing  in  the  forest  and  establishing  by  degrees  a 
line  of  lights  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  Falls.  Care- 
fully shaded  as  the  lanterns  were  until  the  proper  moment, 
enough  of  their  beams  escaped  to  mark  out  the  course  of  the 
Fall.  A  great  hush  of  expectation  came  over  the  company. 
Suddenly  a  signal  rocket  blazed  out  from  the  very  top.  A 
minute  later  it  was  answered  by  another  from  the  very  bot- 
tom, and  a  half-minute  later,  by  a  simultaneous  firing  of  Ben- 
gola  lights,  there  opened  upon  us  a  more  surprising  specta- 
cle of  fairy-like,  if  I  must  not  say  heavenly,  beauty,  than  I 
ever  saw  before.  The  five  shoots,  and  indeed  the  whole 
chasm  for  a  thousand  feet  long  and  a  hundred  broad,  were 
in  a  blaze  of  light,  exceeding  the  brightness  of  noonday, 
while  absolute  darkness  buried  every  thing  else.  The  water 
seemed  visible  in  every  drop — the  whole  series  of  falls  in  per- 
'  feet  view  at  once — and  I  can  compare  the  magical  effect  only 
to  a  staircase  such  as  might  open  from  the  gate  of  heaven 
itself,  on  whose  successive  flights  choirs  of  angels — here  in 
garments  of  white,  and  there  of  blue,  and  then  of  rose  and 
green — were  posted,  to  welcome  the  expected  guests.     Ja- 


The  Old  World  jn  its  New  Face. 

cob's  ladder  could  not  have  been  more  lovely  in  his  dream. 
In  fact  the  ecstasy  of  this  prospect  was  almost  painful.  I 
found  myself  expecting  that  something  in  me  would  give  way 
under  a  vision  of  such  supernatural  beauty,  and  was  afraid, 
as  men  have  been  afraid  when  angelic  messengers  have  ap- 
peared to  them.  I  can  not  say  that  the  many-colored  lights 
added  to  the  effect.  The  first  minute,  when  only  pure  white 
light  illuminated  the  whole  series  of  falls,  was  really  far  the 
most  effective.  Falls  of  red  wine  or  green  vitriol  are  not  nat- 
ural enough  to  please,  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  a  little 
vexed  with  memories  of  stage-spectacle,  when  red  and  green 
lights  intrude  into  scenes  which  Heaven  itself  has  fashioned. 
But  I  will  not  complain  of  any  part  of  a  vision  which  gave 
me  such  exquisite  pleasure  while  it  lasted.  It  was  long 
enough,  although  I  believe  the  watch  reported  only  three 
minutes'  duration.  The  lights  were  skillfully  made  to  die  out 
of  the  successive  shoots  rapidly,  but  in  succession,  beginning 
with  the  lowest.  One  by  one,  those  heavenly  gates  closed  ! 
The  highest,  which  was  red  as  blood,  closed  last,  and  with  a 
longer  interval,  and  we  were  shut  out  and  left  in  the  dark- 
ness !  I  would  not  for  the  world  have  had  the  spectacle  re- 
peated. It  would  have  become  theatrical  the  next  time,  and 
I  dare  say  hateful  after  a  few  repetitions ;  but  it  has  left  an 
image  on  my  senses  and  my  imagination  so  vivid  and  so  en- 
chanting that  if  I  should  live  a  thousand  years  I  could  never 
forget  it.  I  expect  to  have  it  return  in  dreams,  and  should 
not  wonder  if  in  the  shadows  of  expiring  nature  it  presented 
itself  as  a  foreshowing  of  the  glory  that  is  to  be  revealed. 

Yesterday  at  dinner,  at  Interlachen,  who  should  most  unex- 
pectedly greet  me  as  I  rose  from  table  but  my  old  teacher 
and  friend.  Rev.  Dr.  Palfrey  of  Boston,  and  with  him  a  knot 
of  Unitarian  friends.  The  Doctor  was  just  flitting  through 
Switzerland  by  a  swift  detour  on  his  way  to  England,  where 


American  Friends.  191 

I  surmise  he  has  a  few  weeks  of  work  before  him  examining 
historical  documents.  Meanwhile  he  represents  the  country 
at  the  Anti-Slavery  Congress  held  in  a  few  weeks  at  Paris. 
It  was  delightful  to  see  this  accomplished  scholar  and  faith- 
ful historian  getting  a  little  relaxation.  New  England  owes 
him  some  leisure  in  his  declining  years.  America  owes  him 
lasting  honor  for  his  illustrious  fidelity  to  anti-slavery  princi- 
ples in  days  when  it  cost  reputation,  place,  and  almost  a  live- 
lihood, to  be  an  avowed  Abolitionist,  especially  if  the  avowal 
was  not  itself  made  a  trade  of  Dr.  Palfrey  was  never  a  fa- 
natic nor  a  revolutionist ;  but  his  labors  in  Congress  and  out, 
and  especially  with  his  pen,  in  behalf  of  national  purification 
from  slavery,  enti.tle  him  to  the  abiding  gratitude  of  the 
American  people.  His  pupils  in  theology  do  not  forget  their 
personal  obligations  to  his  learning  and  his  conscientious 
criticism. 

September  6. 

The  Hotel  Belvedere,  where  we  are  staying,  has  the  repu- 
tation of  being  the  scene  of  Longfellow's  Hyperion.  I  ex- 
pected to  find  it  lying  about  in  the  inn,  but  have  not  laid 
eyes  on  a  copy.  But  books  have  a  poor  chance  in  the  midst 
of  such  scenery,  and,  above  all,  of  such  troops  of  friends  as 
one  meets  in  this  rendezvous.  Bostonians  and  New  Yorkers, 
and  almost  all  of  them  Unitarian  friends,  make  more  than 
half  the  guests  at  this  hotel.  Twenty-five  I  counted  in  the 
salon  at  one  time.  Not  that  this  is  an  American  haunt  espe- 
cially. I  see  from  my  window  a  gentleman  and  lady  break- 
fasting out-of-doors,  in  the  public  drive-way,  directly  in  front 
of  the  hotel,  and  I  know  they  must  be  French.  That  other 
man,  smoking  his  pipe  before  breakfast,  must  be  German. 
There,  by  his  peculiar  robes,  is,  I  judge,  a  Russian  priest ; 
and  near  by,  an  English  High  Church  minister,  who  enters 
his  name  in  the  book,  Rev.  J-  H.  Davidson,  Priest,  England. 


192  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  one  sees  at  Interlachen,  on  two  doors, 
side  by  side,  entering  the  same  building,  the  notice,  on  one, 
"  EngUsh  Church,"  and  on  the  other,  "  CathoHc  Chapel." 
It  would  be  very  easy  to  knock  away  the  partition  if  these 
sentimental  Ritualists  had  their  w^ay. 

We  have  the  refreshing  company  to-day  of  Mr.  Wood  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Hale's  church,  and  Mr.  Kennaird  of  Dr.  Hedge's, 
and  Mr.  Moses  Kimball  of  Dr.  Lathrop's,  and  Mr.  Bouve  of 
Dr.  Putnam's,  not  to  mention  a  half-dozen  ladies.  I  saw  yes- 
terday eight  of  my  own  parishioners.  I  can  not  feel  very  far 
away  from  home.  But  I  sat  down  to  say  something  about 
our  flight  over  the  Wengern  Alp  yesterday,  but  I  see  that  I 
can  not  get  it  into  this  mail. 


XVIII. 

SWITZERLAND. 

Thun,  September  g,  1867. 

TUST  opposite  the  line  of  brilliant  hotels  at  Interlachen 
?'  opens  the  famous  valley  of  Lauterbrunnen  ("nothing  but 
springs  "),  through  whose  magnificent  gorge  bursts  out  the 
violent  torrent  of  the  Liitschine,  whose  deposits,  it  is  supposed, 
have  built  the  isthmus  of  two  miles  level  land  that  so  charm- 
ingly separates  the  two  lakes  of  Brienz  and  Thun,  which,  by 
the  way,  are  at  different  levels,  Thun  being  twenty-five  feet 
lower.  Through  this  gorge  bursts,  also,  the  glorious  beauty 
of  the  Jung-frau,  in  a  prospect  of  unrivaled  grandeur  and 
sublime  unity.  Following  up  this  valley  four  or  five  miles, 
you  come  to  the  end  of  the  lateral  valley  of  Grindelwald, 
through  which  the  black  Liitschine  pours  its  gloomy  waters. 
Following  the  other  branch  of  the  torrent,  the  white  Liitschine, 
you  are  led  to  the  village  of  Lauterbrunnen,  which,  amid  the 
greenest  and  most  cultivated  slopes,  is  overhung  with  preci- 
pices which  delay  the  sunrise  and  anticipate  the  sunset  by  a 
couple  of  hours.  That  part  of  the  valley,  in  the  midst  of 
which  the  "  Staub-bach  "  hangs  its  scarf  of  mist,  reminds  me 
strongly  of  the  Yosemite  valley  in  its  general  features,  though 
wanting  in  equal  beauty.  The  famous  "  Bridal  veil  "  of  the 
Yosemite  is  a  finer  fall  than  the  "  Staub-bach,"  although  it 
has  not  had  Byron  for  its  poet  nor  Longfellow  for  its  historic 
romancer.  It  is  best  seen  from  a  half-mile  distant,  and  is 
poorest  when  viewed  directly  in  front. 

1 


194  ^^  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

At  Lauterbrunnen,  after  having  with  partial  success  dodged 
all  the  benevolent  old  and  young  women,  who  wanted  us  to 
buy  sour  plums  and  juiceless  pears  to  an  extent  that  would 
have  given  the  dreaded  cholera  to  a  regiment,  or  else  to  lay  in 
wooden-ware  enough  to  stock  a  toy-shop  at  Christmas,  we 
mounted  our  horses — in  a  party  of  nine — to  cross  the  Little 
Sheideck,  and  from  the  Wengern  Alp  to  face  directly  the 
snows  and  precipices  of  the  Jung-frau,  perchance  to  hear  the 
roar  and  see  the  fall  of  its  famous  avalanches.  Some  wag 
has  called  the  Wengern  Alp  the  "  Boulevard  of  Switzerland." 
Certainly  over  its  steep  and  narrow  bridle-path  file  daily  morl 
visitors  than  over  any  other  foot-pass,  unless  we  call  the 
"  Rigi  "  by  that  name.  I  met  an  acquaintance  made  in  Cali- 
fornia, on  the  passage  over,  who  knew  me  after  three  years' 
separation,  in  the  disguise  of  my  grey  whiskers  and  uncleric- 
al  wardrobe,  and  saluted  me,  as  if  it  were  the  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world  for  men  living  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
globe  to  meet  four  thousand  feet  above  the  ocean  in  a  mule- 
track  of  Switzerland.  The  ascent  for  the  first  two  miles  is 
steep  and  uncomfortable,  but  from  the  top  of  the  first  ridge 
to  the  summit  the  path  is  neither  precipitous  nor  rugged,  nor 
is  there  any  thing  that  need  discourage  persons  of  ordinary 
strength  from  riding  up  or  down.  The  general  views  are  su- 
perb. 

The  Wengern  Alp  seems  a  mere  gallery  for  seeing  at 
close  hand  the  sublime  precipices,  the  noble  glaciers  and  the 
towering  peaks  of  the  Jung-frau.  The  last  two  miles  before 
reaching  the  summit  are  the  great  lookout,  from  which  the 
sight  of  falling  avalanches  and  huge  snow-fields  and  immense 
perpendicular  walls  of  rock  is  commanded.  It  looks  as  if 
you  could  toss  a  stone  across  this  valley,  which  must  be  a 
mile  wide.  It  is  really  only  just  far  enough  to  allow  the 
best  possible  view  of  the  Jung-frau,  which,  in  all  its  savage 


A   Great  Avalanche.  195 

majesty  and  frozen  wrath,  stretches  up  and  down  the  valley 
as  if  its  roots  spread  from  horizon  to  horizon,  while  its 
sno^vy  top  seems  to  support  the  sky.  It  was  wholly  bare  of 
vegetation — all  rock,  ice  and  snow — while  the  Wengern  is 
green  and  covered  to  its  top  with  pastures,  full  of  cattle,  fill- 
ing the  air  with  the  music  of  their  tinkling  bells.  A  half- 
dozen  refreshment  saloons,  with  two  excellent  hotels,  measure 
off  the  way,  so  that  civilization,  comfort  and  verdure  are  here 
brought  vis-a-vis  with  desolation,  sterility  and  Arctic  savage- 
ness.  Every  half-mile  that  gigantic  bassoon,  the  Alpine 
horn,  a  rude  wooden  instrument,  called  for  a  tribute  of  pen- 
nies to  its  success  in  waking  up  the  echoes  of  the  mountains, 
and  now  and  then  Tyrolean  melodies  were  choraled  at  the 
door  of  chalets  by  women,  who  dropped  their  lace  bobbins  to 
take  the  small  price  they  asked  for  stopping  their  noise. 
We  began  to  fear,  as  we  approached  nearest  to  the  shelves 
from  which  the  avalanches  usually  drop,  that  the  season  was 
too  late  for  this  coveted  spectacle.  But  a  heavy  rain  of  the 
night  before  had  loosened  the  snow,  and  a  hot  sun  was  unty- 
ing its  last  bonds,  and  just  as  our  despair  began  to  culminate, 
down  came  a  torrent  of  snow  and  ice,  which  for  a  few  sec- 
onds eclipsed  the  Staub-bach  in  copiousness,  and  when  it 
reached  the  ground,  shook  the  valley  with  thunders  and  a 
tremor  that  was  palpable,  while  a  smoke  went  up  from  the 
gulf  equal  to  the  torrent  that  forever  boils  in  the  basin  of 
Niagara. 

The  sight  was  vastly  more  impressive  than  we  had  antici- 
pated ;  and,  indeed,  the  avalanche  was  an  exceptional  one  in 
its  magnitude.  Seven  of  unusual  size  had  followed  each 
other  in  as  many  minutes,  at  an  earlier  hour  in  the  morning. 
A  second  of  large  proportions  fell  when  we  were  on  the  sum- 
mit, and  many  smaller  ones  beguiled  our  way  up.  We 
felt  amply  rewarded  for  our  pains.     An  hour's  rest,  with  some 


196  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

bread  and  cheese,  a  mountain  custard  and  a  bottle  of  Swiss 
wine,  prepared  us  to  descend  on  foot  to  the  glacier  of  Grin- 
delwald.  We  were  two  hours  and  a  half  riding  up,  and  less 
than  two  hours  coming  down  to  the  glacier — a  fac1»  well 
enough  to  mention,  as  the  innkeepers,  horse-furnishers  and 
guides  call  it  an  eight  or  nine  hours'  journey  over,  and 
charge  in  proportion.  To  get  from  Interlachen  by  carriage 
out  to  Lauterbrunnen,  then  sending  the  carriage  round  to 
meet  us  at  Grindelwald,  to  cross  on  horseback  with  a  guide, 
visit  the  glacier  and  get  back  to  Interlachen,  cost  three  of  us 
eighty-five  francs  and  just  twelve  hours'  work — a  great  deal 
more  than  in  fairness  it  should  have  cost.  We  had  in  our 
patriotic  tenderness  selected  from  among  the  guides  a  fair- 
faced  boy  of  sixteen,  who  sjoeaking  good  English  had  excited 
our  curiosity,  and  who  turned  out  to  be  a  lad  from  Indiana, 
who  had  got  across  the  water,  he  did  not  seem  inclined  to  tell 
us  why  or  how,  and  was  now  studying  French  and  German 
practically  to  qualify  himself  for  success  as  a  guide  to  travel- 
ers. He  had,  evidently  by  his  lingual  accomplishments,  es- 
pecially by  talking  English,  aroused  the  universal  jealousy  of 
the  native  guides — speaking  only  a  patois  of  German  and  a 
little  bad  French.  But  it  was  clear  enough  that  it  was  not 
in  language  alone  that  he  was  their  superior.  In  intelligence, 
cunning,  self-control  and  the  arts  of  getting  along  he  was 
worth  a  dozen  of  them,  and  moved  like  a  superior  being 
among  them.  I  am  very  much  afraid  his  superiority  was  not 
a  moral  inspiration.  We  found  him  as  grasping  and  artful 
as  he  was  clever,  and  did  not  care  much  to  present  him  as 
an  American  product.  But  it  was  instructive  to  notice  how 
much  finer  textured  and  more  subtle  and  active  the  brain  of 
this  Yankee  boy  was  than  the  brains  of  the  grown  men  about 
him. 

We  find  the  Swiss,  like  other  mountaineers,  narrowed  in 


Ice  a7id  Music.  197 

intellect  as  much  as  they  are  expanded  in  the  love  of  free- 
dom. They  have  all  a  little  of  the  Savoyard  softness  and 
sentimentality.  It  is  in  their  eyes  and  voices.  Very  little 
self-assertion  or  enterprise  attaches  to  their  personality. 
Good-natured,  unambitious,  poor,  and  contented  to  be  poor, 
they  are  living  on  the  crumbs  of  rich  men's  tables — in  short, 
supported  by  the  pleasure  travel  of  the  world,  and  I  see  few 
evidences  that  their  country  is  any  the  better  for  the  use  it 
is  put  to ;  but  of  that  more  after  a  little  more  experience. 
Of  course,  hot  as  we  were,  we  went  into  the  glacier,  where  I 
suspect  a  great  many  people  get  their  death  o'  cold.  The 
gallery  in — which  is  twenty  feet  above  the  foot — penetrates, 
by  a  tunnel  of  perhaps  ten  feet  square,  some  two  hundred 
feet  or  more  into  the  heart  of  the  glacier.  It  has  three  or 
four  angles  in  its  passage,  and  ends  in  a  chamber  of  twenty 
feet  square.  The  ice,  of  a  bluish  tint,  is  wonderfully  clear, 
and  lighted,  even  poorly,  gave  very  brilliant  crystalline  re- 
flections. The  temperature,  after  our  hot  walk,  was  painfully 
and  perilously  cold,  and  allowed  a  much  shorter  visit  than 
we  all  coveted.  Before  we  had  advanced  half-way,  sounds 
of  distant  music,  as  if  from  spirits  imprisoned  in  the  glacier, 
aroused  a  painfully  interesting  attention.  I  was  meditating 
on  the  possibility  of  sounds  reaching  us  from  the  surface, 
when  the  increasing  loudness  culminated  in  bringing  me  face 
to  face  with  two  shrouded  and  doubtless  shivering  women, 
who  were  playing  the  zither,  and  singing  in  the  heart  of  this 
glacier.  It  was  a  most  disagreeable  entertainment  in  all  its 
suggestions  and  all  its  concomitants.  The  poverty  which 
could  drive  women  to  this  perilous  exposure,  the  unsuitable- 
ness  of  the  thing — as  if  glaciers  were  like  other  ices,  to  be 
served  up  to  the  sound  of  an  orchestra — and  the  unexpected- 
ness of  having  your  pocket  picked  by  an  appeal  to  your  pity 
m  the  heart  of  a  glacier — all  combined  to  fill  me  with  disgust, 


198  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

as,  shuddering  with  cold,  I  retreated  out  of  this  crystal  cav- 
ern, to  find  sunshine  and  freedom  in  the  open  air. 

Grindelwald  itself  is  fully  entitled  to  its  reputation  as  one 
of  the  grandest  and  most  beautiful  valleys  in  Switzerland. 
People  make  a  great  mistake  in  hurrying  through  it  as  we 
did.  It  is  a  place  in  which  all  possible  mountain  effects  may 
be  studied  at  leisure.  The  faces  of  the  precipices  are  so 
bold,  the  horns  of  so  many  towering  peaks  glisten  through 
its  gorges,  its  slopes  are  so  fertile,  its  chalets  so  sprinkled 
about,  that  I  know  no  spot  more  attractive  when  the  charm 
of  its  two  glaciers  is  added.  Finer  glaciers  are  easily  found, 
but  none  so  accessible.  The  drive  to  Interlachen  was  all 
down  hill,  and  accomplished  in  two  hours.  We  could  not 
believe  that  we  had  left  so  many  hundred  feet  to  be  descend- 
ed, as  we  pitched  from  Grindelwald  down  the  steep  road 
into  its  dark  valley.  The  mist  was  just  rising  from  the 
Liitschine,  as  the  snow-cooled  stream  came  into  warmer  air. 
As  we  descended,  the  sunset  turned  the  tops  of  the  mount- 
ains into  precipices  of  ruby,  while  a  few  clouds  outblushed 
their  florid  faces.  We  drove  furiously  down  the  declivities, 
saved  from  peril  by  a  very  ugly  guardian  angel  in  the  shape 
of  a  stunted  boy-man,  whose  missing  height  had  gone  into 
his  thickness,  but  who  kept  up  with  us  for  at  least  four  miles, 
applying  the  chain  and  shoe  to  our  wheels  and  loosening  it 
at  proper  moments — a  sort  of  benevolent  hobgoblin,  whom  a 
halffranc  converted  into  a  smile  such  as  brought  out  the 
human  heart  from  within  his  rough  hide. 

It  is  impossible  to  get  out  of  Interlachen  in  the  direction 
of  Thun,  without  passing  through  Unterseen,  and  it  would 
take  all  the  waters  in  both  lakes  to  wash  out  the  foetid  odors 
that  stifle  those  who  ride  through  its  streets.  Pig-sties,  barn- 
yards, sewers,  butcheries,  tanneries,  tombine  to  pollute  the 
air,  and  the  children  who  grow  up  in  its  disgusting  atmos- 


Diet  and  Disease.  199 

phere  show  the  poison  they  breathe  in  their  stunted  stature, 
and  deformed  and  idiotic  appearance.  It  will  be  idle  to 
charge  the  Cretinism  of  Switzerland  to  its  waters,  so  long  as 
the  filthiness  of  its  lower  population  remains  such  an  active 
source  of  domestic  malaria.  It  is  strange  that  the  pure  air 
of  its  mountains  should  not  create  a  distaste  for  a  foul,  reek- 
ing air  in  its  dwellings,  or  that  the  charming  purity  of  its 
lakes  and  rivers  should  not  provoke  a  spirit  of  cleanliness 
and  a  love  for  bathing  and  washing.  But  the  very  reverse  is 
true.  They  wash  their  flannels,  it  is  said,  only  yearly,  and 
change  their  linen  quarterly!  Their  basements  are  always 
damp,  dirty  and  disgusting,  and  you  can  only  reach  the  dining- 
room  in  many  of  their  houses  by  passing  by  the  stable  and 
the  piggery.  Doubtless  there  is  something  radically  wrong 
in  the  architecture  of  the  country.  In  all  the  towns  it  is  enor- 
mously heavy — commonly  built  in  stone  arcades,  very  low 
in  the  arches,  excluding  light  and  air,  and  of  course  both 
gloomy  and  ill-ventilated.  The  houses  would  all  stand  a 
siege,  and  look  more  like  fortresses  than  habitations. 

The  lake  of  Thun,  beautiful  as  it  is  at  its  western  end, 
with  the  glorious  peaks  that  rise  over  its  smiling  slopes,  is 
not  equal  to  Lucerne.  The  town,  built  on  the  Aar,  which 
divides  and  leaves  part  of  Thun  on  an  island,  has  hidden  it- 
self from  the  lake  view,  as  if  only  cold  winds  and  bleak  pros- 
pects came  from  its  lovely  waters.  It  is  a  picturesque  old 
place  to  look  upon  from  any  neighboring  height,  with  its 
raised  sidewalks  and  its  lofty  four-towered  castle,  and  the 
broad  meadows,  flat  as  a  sheet  of  paper,  that  offer  them- 
selves in  such  beautiful  contrast  with  the  conical  mountains 
around.  There  are  charming  houses,  or  rather  castles,  on  the 
banks  of  the  lake,  one  belonging  to  Count  Portalis,  former 
lord  of  Neufchatel,  and  another  still  more  elegant,  the  prop- 
erty of  a  French  gentleman.     The  view  of  the  lake  from  the 


2  00  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

summer-house  on  the  height  behind  the  beautiful  grounds  of 
the  Hotel  de  Bellevue  is  magnificent,  and  richly  repays  the 
sharp  climb  that  leads  to  it.  The  enterprising  proprietor  of 
this  extensive  establishment,  which  embraces  four  houses  in 
a  large  garden  or  park,  has  found  it  for  his  interest  to  erect 
a  chapel  for  the  service  of  the  Church  of  England  in  his  own 
grounds.  The  zeal  of  the  "Establishment"  keeps  it  open 
for  four  months,  and  the  guests  of  the  hotel  and  town  sup- 
ply its  choir  and  fill  its  pews.  The  Continental  hotels  are  all 
placarded  with  notices  of  these  English  Church  services,  by 
ministers  duly  licensed  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  doubt- 
less many  poor  clergymen  get  their  summer  run  only  on  the 
terms  of  supplying  some  such  Continental  chapel  for  a  few 
weeks.  Such  poor  stipend  as  they  receive,  you  are  carefully 
notified,  proceeds  only  from  the  contributions  of  the  worship- 
ers. The  service  is  long,  repetitious  and  formal.  The 
Lord's  Prayer  is  repeated  three  times  in  the  morning,  as  if  it 
were  a  cabalistic  charm,  and  there  is  an  air  of  superstitious 
observance  in  the  whole  service  which  is  offensive  to  an  en- 
lightened spirit.  I  heard  lately  of  a  blasphemous  bet  made 
by  the  ship's  doctor  on  one  of  the  transatlantic  steamers, 
to  whom,  as  the  "  aftest  man  "  aboard  for  that  duty,  had  been 
committed  the  task  of  reading  the  service.  He  bet  that  he 
would  publicly  read  the  service  in  thirty  minutes,  and  did  it 
in  twenty-nine. 

Thun  contains  a  very  costly  barrack  for  soldiers,  just  built, 
not  without  great  opposition  on  account  of  its  cost.  The 
Swiss  Diet  in  purchasing  the  postal  service  from  the  cantons, 
who  formerly  derived  considerable  income  from  it,  agreed  to 
pay  back  a  certain  proportion  of  the  net  profits  of  this  lucra- 
tive business  to  the  cantons  annually.  But  the  Diet  is  al- 
ways in  want  of  money,  and  the  cantons  are  in  debt,  and 
fear  every  federal  expenditure  may  diminish  their  prospects 


Great  Orgati  and  Bridge.  201 

of  receiving  their  dues  from  the  Diet.  The  railroads  are 
some  of  them  productive,  and  others  not.  They  can  di- 
vide only  six  per  cent.,  and  Zurich  is  now  building  a  most 
costly  depot,  with  a  surplus  which  really,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
act  of  incorporation,  belongs  to  the  government.  Skipping 
Berne,  where  we  passed  three  days,  and  to  which  I  must  de- 
vote my  next  letter,  I  pass  on  to  Freybourg,  known  to  trav- 
elers for  its  famous  suspension  bridges  and  its  grand  organ. 
The  organ,  although  well  played  by  Mr.  Voigt,  who  has  been 
organist  for  over  thirty  years,  is  not  as  pleasant  an  instru- 
ment to  hear  as  the  organ  at  Lucerne.  There  is  a  peculiar 
harp-like  twang  in  the  quality  of  its  tone,  which  is  like  a  nasal 
tone  in  the  human  voice.  Its  "  vox  humana "  is  far  inferior 
to  the  stop  in  the  Lucerne  organ.  Had  it  not  a  start  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  in  reputation  of  many  other  fine  organs 
in  Europe,  it  would  hardly  hold  its  renown.  None  of  the 
great  organs  abroad  I  have  yet  heard  are  superior  to  the 
Boston  organ  ;  but  they  have  the  immense  advantage  of  be- 
ing in  buildings  precisely  adapted  both  in  size  and  shape  to 
their  full  expression,  which  the  Boston  Music  Hall  is  not. 

The  two  suspension  bridges  in  Freybourg  are  really  wonders 
of  courage  and  skill.  They  accomplish  their  difficult  object  of 
bridging  gulfs  which  for  ages  had  subjected  the  inhabitants 
to  daily  and  most  serious  inconvenience  with  the  smallest  ex- 
penditure of  means.  Usually  suspension  bridges  are  imper- 
iled by  the  very  weight  which  is  adopted  to  make  them 
secure.  Their  own  gravitation  exceeds  any  pressure  which  is 
put  upon  them.  Here  the  engineer  has  had  the  faith  and 
boldness  to  avoid  every  pound  of  iron  not  indispensable  to 
the  practical  strength  of  his  bridge  ;  and  with  probably  less 
than  a  tenth  of  the  avoirdupois  in  the  great  suspension 
bridges  over  the  Menai  Straits  and  Niagara  River,  he  has 
built  a  bridge  of  a  single  arch,  the  longest  in  the  world  and 

I  2 


202  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  highest,  which  has  stood  forty  years.  There  is  a  very 
perceptible,  and  I  must  confess  to  me  a  very  disagreeable  os- 
cillation in  these  bridges  when  a  single  heavy  wagon  is  cross- 
ing them  ;  but  they  have  borne  a  train  of  wagons  reaching 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  are  safe  beyond  any  ques- 
tion. Freybourg,  like  Berne,  and  I  may  add  Lausanne,  is 
one  of  the  most  difficult  cities  to  get  about  in  in  the  world. 
All  these  cities,  originally  jammed  into  chasms  not  unlike 
that  at  Niagara  below  the  Falls,  have  run  up  the  precipitous 
banks,  and  created  stories  above  stories,  connected  with  stone 
stairs  and  almost  inaccessible  steeps,  which  render  locomo- 
tion about  them  almost  as  difficult  as  in  mountain  passes. 
They  are,  however,  wonderfully  picturesque.  The  view  from 
the  terrace  of  the  Hotel  Zahringer  at  Freybourg  is  extraordi- 
nary and  fascinating. 

Five  Franciscan  monks  were  our  fellow-travelers  in  the 
cars  from  Freybourg  to  Vevay.  I  could  not  help  envying 
them  their  compact  costume,  so  admirably  adapted  to  traveling 
in  Europe,  where  luggage  is  such  a  nuisance.  Most  travelers 
are  sacrificed  to  their  clothes.  But  these  ascetic  saints,  with 
their  single  cloth  garment,  which  seemed  to  answer  all  the 
purposes  of  a  complete  suit,  besides  being  furnished  with  a 
cowl  which  covered  their  shaven  crowns  when  they  conde- 
scended to  such  a  weakness  as  a  head-piece,  were  equipped 
for  a  journey  of  a  month  when  they  added  a  wallet  of  a  few 
ounces  to  their  wardrobe.  Their  gowns  were  sewed  up  in 
front  from  the  waist  down.  Their  sleeves  they  used  as  pock- 
ets, tucking  their  handkerchiefs  up  them,  and  any  thing  else 
they  wished  to  dispose  of  They  snuffed  and  chewed  tobac- 
co, but  in  other  respects  looked  like  self-denying  men,  not 
without  intellectual  expression. 

Freybourg  was  the  seat  of  Father  Girard's  admirable  educa- 
tional influence,  which  was  felt  all  over  Switzerland,  and  to 


Education  and  Thrift.  203 

no  small  extent  in  Europe.     His  benevolent  face  is  perpet- 
uated in  a  bronze  statue  in  one  of  the  principal   squares. 
He  was  a  monk  and  an  earnest  Catholic,  but  none  the  less  a 
profound  and  practical  philanthropist  and  friend  of  science 
and    popular   education.       His    memory   is   venerated   and 
blessed  in  all  this  region.     Switzerland,  through  his  influence 
in  large  part,  possesses  a  school  system  which  educates  her 
own  children  and  attracts  thousands  from  every  part  of  Eu- 
rope.    Zurich,  Lausanne,  Vevay,  Geneva,  are  full  of  schools, 
patronized    by   English,    French,   Russians    and    Germans. 
Great  numbers  come  to  them  from  all  countries  to  be  per- 
fected in  the  French  language.     It  is  unhappily  true  that  the 
better  sort  of  Swiss  youth  are  compelled  to  leave  their  own 
land  for  a  livelihood.     Paris  is  full  of  Swiss  clerks,  and  they 
are  scattered  all  over  the  cities  of  Europe.     Their  excellent 
education   stands  them  in   good  stead  in    these  positions. 
Several  Swiss  parents  have  told  me  that  their  own  country 
furnished  no  career  for  their  sons.     The  new  railroads  are 
improving  business  to  some  extent,  and  their  hotels,  with 
their  enormous   summer   business,  have  actually  re-created 
some  towns.     Ouchy,  the  port  of  Lausanne,  has  grown  into 
a  thriving  place  from  nothing  since  the  beautiful  and  popu- 
lar Hotel  of  Beau-rivage  was  opened  there.     One  man,  by 
omnibus  and  liver}^  business,  from  a  poor  voiturier  has  be- 
come in  a  few  years  the  capitalist  of  the  place,  and  lately 
gave  160,000  francs  for  a  piece  of  property  which  he  will 
doubtless  turn  into   a  "  pension  "  —  the  destination   of  all 
large  houses  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva.     There  is  a  truly  Amer- 
ican air  in  the  bustle  of  travel  about  Lake  Leman,  and  with 
so  many  American  faces  about,  it  is  hard  to  feel  very  far 
from  home.     But  this  beautiful  and  classic  region  must  not 
be  disposed  of  in  the  concluding  paragraph  of  a  letter,  so  I 
will  adjourn  the  Lake  of  Geneva  to  a  later  communication. 


XIX. 

BERNE. 

Switzerland,  September  lo,  1867. 

r)ERNE,  the  political  capital  of  the  Federal  Union  of 
Switzerland,  occupies  a  noble  bluff,  round  which  the  Aar 
sweeps,  holding  the  city  almost  encircled  by  its  beautiful 
arms.  The  blue  river,  deep  in  its  bed,  meets  the  eye  of  the 
stranger  from  a  dozen  terraces  that  overhang  its  waters,  as 
unexpectedly  he  comes  upon  the  narrow  boundaries  of  this 
natural  fortress.  And  yet,  high  as  Berne  is,  it  is  overlooked 
in  every  direction,  excepting  toward  the  Oberland  (where  the 
prospect  is  so  important),  by  commanding  hills,  beautifully 
wooded,  and  at  convenient  points  laid  out  in  drives  and  gar- 
dens, from  which  Berne,  with  its  grand  old  minster,  and  its 
rich  roofs  bristling  with  picturesque  chimneys  and  gables,  pre- 
sents a  most  inviting  prospect.  The  old  city  stands  there  as 
if  made  to  be  looked  at.  It  appears  almost  like  a  toy  city, 
built  to  amuse  a. prince,  so  gem-like  and  artistic  is  its  form  and 
place.  I  wished  to  take  it  up  as  I  looked  down  on  it  from 
the  Enghe,  and  carry  it  off  to  America,  to  give  the  good  un- 
traveled  people  at  home  (if  there  are  any  left)  an  idea  of 
what  a  place  a  thousand  years  old  comes  to  be  under  favor- 
able circumstances.  That  grand  cathedral  tower,  unfinish- 
ed as  it  is,  need  not  hide  its  head  in  the  presence  of  the 
grandest  chain  of  mountains  in  Europe — the  Bernese  Alps — 
so  visible  from  its  turrets.  The  snow  peaks,  that  rest  on  the 
granite  summits  yonder,  seem  to  own  that  venerable  tower 


The  Alps.  205 

as  a  part  of  nature,  so  long  have  they  been  exchanging  looks 
with  each  other,  and  so  solidly  and  sincerely  did  art  and 
piety  work  when  they  heaved  up  that  enduring  pile.  These 
arcades  of  stone,  strong  as  casemates,  on  which  whole  streets 
of  houses,  four,  five,  perhaps  seven  hundred  years  old,  are 
resting,  and  may  continue  to  rest  as  many  hundred  years 
more,  how  they  bring  back  the  days  when  a  man's  house  was 
his  castle,  and  when  domestic  architecture  was  upon  the  mil- 
itary model.  Italy  has  evidently  set  the  copy  which  Berne, 
Innsbruck,  Basle  and  other  Alpine  cities  have  followed  in 
their  street  architecture.  Berne  has  broken  up  its  old  walls, 
but  pieces  of  them,  and  old  towers  and  gates,  are  still  wrought 
into  its  present  charming  surroundings. 

The  chief  ornament  of  Berne,  however,  is  the  unrivaled 
prospect  it  commands  of  the  Bernese  Alps.  They  seem  al- 
most to  belong  to  the  city  and  the  city  to  them.  Thirty  miles 
off,  at  least,  they  are  only  just  distant  enough  to  be  seen  to 
full  advantage,  as  a  part  of  the  grand  landscape  in  which 
they  are  set — a  mighty  necklace  worn  on  the  bosom  of  Cen- 
tral Europe.  Amid  the  Alps,  the  Alps  are  a  world  in  them- 
selves, and  can  not  be  seen  in  their  relations.  They  t}Tan- 
nize  over  the  imagination  and  crush  the  senses.  They  are 
not  things  over  which  man  feels  his  rightful  superiority.  He 
walks  in  their  dark  gulfs  a  prisoner;  he  trembles  on  the 
verge  of  their  precipices  ;  he  drags  his  weary  limbs  up  their 
endless  ascents,  and  feels  how  weak  and  miserable  a  creature 
he  is  before  their  crushing  glaciers  and  overwhelming  ava- 
lanches and  inaccessible  heights.  But  a  remove  of  fifty 
miles  reduces  this  exclusive  and  imperious  tract  of  mountain 
territory — which  bars  out  all  the  world  and  makes  itself  an 
unrelated  district — to  its  real  proportions — a  furrow  on  the 
face  of  mother  earth,  a  wrinkle  on  her  brow,  so  venerable  yet 
so  fair.     What  was  painfully  sublime,  seen  in  its  isolation,  is 


2o6  The  Old  World  i?i  its  New  Face. 

only  grandly  beautiful  seen  in  its  relations.  The  Alps  are 
only  beautiful,  nay,  are  only  really  seen,  when  seen  in  whole 
chains  and  from  a  sufficient  distance  to  give  them  their  full 
place  and  no  more,  in  a  landscape  embracing  the  plain  from 
which  they  rise.  Even  the  White  Hills  (let  us  never  more 
call  them  mountains,  but  retain  the  dignity  which  first  named 
them  so  proudly  and  modestly  hills)  are  not  really  seen  from 
any  point  nearer  than  Littleton  or  Lancaster.  And  the 
Alps,  of  which  the  Oberland  is  the  real  jewel,  are  not  seen 
to  perfection  from  any  point  nearer  than  Berne.  Here 
in  fair  weather — which  I  am  afraid  is  a  rarity — they  hang 
with  the  clouds,  their  natural  playfellows,  in  the  eastern  ho- 
rizon, things  of  beauty.  The  doubting  eye,  unused  to 
such  heights,  refuses  to  acknowledge  them  as  solid  and 
mundane  substances,  as  they  now  melt  into  heaven  and  now 
freeze  to  the  ground.  Mocking  the  clouds  or  mimicked  by 
them,  the  clouds  seem  mountains,  the  mountains  clouds. 
The  granite  precipices  look  like  snow,  the  snowy  peaks  like 
granite.  Blushing  in  the  sunset,  they  become  like  the  walls 
of  jasper  and  amethyst  in  the  heavenly  Jerusalem.  Phan- 
toms' of  glorious  loveliness,  they  sink  with  the  sun  and  rise 
with  him  ;  the  ghostly  presences  of  the  day,  haunting  the 
horizon,  but  coy  and  uncertain,  never  to  be  counted  on  at 
any  given  day  or  hour,  yet  sure  to  return,  and  always  the  same 
enchanting  objects.  If  any  body  wants  to  enjoy  the  Ber- 
nese Alps,  let  him  come  and  get  a  room,  facing  the  view,  in 
this  admirable  "  Bernerhof,"  the  pleasantest  inn  we  have  yet 
occupied,  and  stay  here  till  a  thoroughly  fine  day,  and  then 
he  will  never  forget  the  mountains  of  the  Oberland,  or  doubt 
where  to  place  them  among  the  other  ranges  of  the  Alps. 

This  is,  of  course,  the  place,  here  in  the  capital  of  Switzer= 
land,  to  make  some  brief  study  of  Swiss  politics,  and  under  the 
guidance  of  our  intelligent  and  obliging  Minister,  Mr.  Har- 


Arnold  of  Brescia.  207 

rington,  and  of  his  enlightened  friend,  Mr.  Ninet,  I  have  done 
my  best  to  understand  the  working  of  the  Swiss  Republic. 
Of  the  history  of  old  Switzerland,  older  than  Christianity 
and  coeval  with  classic  times,  this  is  no  place  to  speak.  It 
is  sufficient  to  remember  that  the  Rheti  from  Italy  and  the 
Helvetii  from  Gaul  are  commemorated  by  all  Roman  histo- 
rians, and  that  Caesar  gives  no  small  part  of  his  commentaries 
to  his  record  of  terrible  struggles  with  these,  the  fiercest  sol- 
diers he  ever  encountered.  Switzerland  has  been  the  mount- 
ain wall  against  which  the  surges  of  two  vast  forces  have  for 
nearly  two  thousand  years  been  beating;  Roman  conquest 
and  ambition,  making  the  madness  of  one  tide,  and  Gothic 
and  Vandal  barbarism  the  fierceness  of  the  other,  until  the  ri- 
val ambitions  of  the  Church  and  the  State,  and  of  Northern 
and  Southern  empires,  took  up  the  old  strife  of  Roman  eagles 
and  Gothic  spears.  Every  torrent  in  the  Alps  has  run  blood ; 
every  mountain  pass  been  the  tomb  of  hosts  of  armed  men. 
Switzerland,  never  homogeneous  in  its  population,  has  be- 
longed in  parts  to  so  many  countries — has  been  conquered 
and  abandoned,  sold  and  partitioned,  freed  and  bound  so  oft- 
en— that  it  is  wonderful  it  possesses  any  unity  now,  or  that, 
under  all  circumstances,  it  has  preserved  so  much  liberty. 

The  Swiss,  under  that  name,  do  not  appear  until  a.d. 
1 1 14.  Arnold  of  Brescia,  an  Italian  monk,  living  at  Zurich, 
a  disciple  of  the  free-thinking  Abelard,  was  among  the  first 
to  stimulate  the  spirit  of  independence  in  the  Swiss  against 
the  domination  of  the  Church,  which  by  its  monasteries 
was  always  oppressing  the  mountaineers  of  the  Alps.  Henrj' 
V.  and  Conrad,  emperors,  (1144)  supported  the  pretensions 
of  the  Abbeys,  which  were  ever  striving  to  abridge  or  deny 
the  right  of  the  people  to  sell  in  the  markets  of  Lucerne  and 
Zurich,  where  the  Abbeys  wished  a  monopoly.  Arnold  of 
Brescia   denied    celibacv,   and    maintained   that   the   clersrv 


2o8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ought  not  to  possess  either  property  or  temporal  power.  St. 
Bernard  denounced  him  as  one  who  "  in  a  vase  of  honey  dis- 
tilled the  poison  of  heresy."  Arnold,  six  years  after,  passed 
the  Alps,  followed  by  2000  men,  and  by  their  aid  stripped 
the  Pope  of  his  temporal  power  and  founded  on  the  borders 
of  the  Tiber  a  republic  which  was  very  short-lived.  He  was 
delivered  up  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  I.  and  burned  by  the 
Prefect  of  Rome  as  aheresiarch,  in  1155.  The  mountaineers 
who  had  accompanied  him  may  have  all  perished,  but  the  re- 
formed faith  he  had  sowed  in  Zurich  could  not  die. 

The  foundation  of  the  Swiss  confederacy  dates  from  1291, 
when  the  three  cantons,  Uri,  Schwytz  and  Zurich,  entered 
into  a  perpetual  compact — "  All  for  each,  each  for  all  "  being 
their  blazon.  They  did  not  propose  treasonably  to  throw  off 
their  due  allegiance  to  any  rightful  rulers,  but  simply  to  pro- 
tect their  just  rights.  Lucerne  came  into  this  league  in 
13 1 5.  Later,  and  after  defections  and  wars,  eight  cantons 
formed  a  perpetual  alliance,  which  lasted  from  1353  to  1415. 
The  Grisons  became  allies  of  the  Swiss  in  1400.  The  Coun- 
cil of  Constance — 1415,  1418 — was  followed  by  terrible  civil 
wars  at  Zurich,  and  by  little  foreign  wars  for  a  whole  century. 
Zwingle,  the  natural  successor  of  Arnold  of  Brescia,  took  up 
the  work  of  Reformation  at  Zurich  in  15 18.  In  spite  of  the 
efforts  of  the  Catholic  cantons,  the  Reformation  was  establish- 
ed in  Berne,  St.  Gall,  Appenzell,  Schaffhausen  and  Basle. 
Then  followed  the  separate  leagues  between  the  Catholic 
and  the  Protestant  cantons,  with  the  wars  growing  out  of 
them.  The  Anabaptist  persecution  and  other  troubles  suc- 
ceeded, until,  under  the  religious  and  political  dictation  of 
Calvin,  Geneva  became,  in  1536,  1564,  the  Protestant  Rome. 
The  Catholic  reaction  in  Europe  and  in  Switzerland  then 
followed.  Austrian,  Spanish  and  French  occupation  of 
Switzerland  darkened  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centu- 


New  Switzerland.  209 

ries,  and  especially  desolated  the  Grisons,  who  only  recovered 
their  independence  in  1640.  The  independence  of  the 
Swiss  was  guaranteed  in  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  1648. 
Then  came  the  peasant  war,  and  the  revolutions  at  Basle 
and  Geneva.  The  struggle  to  drive  the  Jesuits  from  their 
stronghold  at  Freybourg  and  from  the  other  cantons,  was  rag- 
ing from  1 7 12  to  1774. 

The  French  Revolution  had  its  strong  echoes  in  Switzer- 
land, and  the  invasion  of  the  French  under  Generals  Me- 
nard and  Brune  lasted  from  1790  to  1798,  when  it  may  be 
said  that  old  Switzerland  ended  and  new  Switzerland  began. 
It  is  not  strange  that  a  country  with  so  large  a  French  ele- 
ment should  have  sympathized  with  the  ideal  democracy  of 
Robespierre  and  the  French  Directory,  or  that  one  with  so 
large  a  German  element  should  have  contained  a  strong  op- 
position to  purely  French  principles  and  inspirations.  Many 
of  the  larger  cantons  welcomed  with  enthusiasm  the  "  Repub- 
lique  Lemannique,"  of  which  Laharpe  had  sent  them  the  plan 
from  Paris,  and,  putting  on  the  green  cockade,  constituted 
themselves  a  representative  assembly,  and  called  Stanislaus 
Poniatowsky  (Secretary  of  the  last  King  of  Poland)  to  pre- 
side over  them,  under  the  name  of  Citizen  Glayre  (24th  June, 
1798).  On  the  other  hand,  the  noble  Charles  Louis  d'Erlach, 
a  true  and  magnanimous  Swiss,  of  a  family  long  distinguish- 
ed for  patriotism,  led  the  opposition  which,  with  patriotic 
rage,  had  sprung  up  in  the  smaller  cantons.  Under  him  oc- 
curred some  of  the  most  heroic  and  bloody  battles  ever  fought, 
battles  in  which  women  and  children  participated,  and  in 
large  numbers  were  slain,  when  Gen.  Schauenbourg  was  sent 
to  put  down  all  resistance  to  the  wishes  of  the  French  Di- 
rectory, who  had  resolved  that  Switzerland  should  be  a  copy 
of  Republican  France.  The  glories  of  their  ancestors  at 
Morgarten,  Laupen  and  Morat  were  renewed  under  D'Erlach 


2  I  o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

and  Alois  Reding.  But  resistance  was  in  vain  to  so  over- 
wlielming  a  power  as  France,  forcing,  in  the  name  of  Liber- 
ty, a  constitution  on  Switzerland  which  she  might  have  glad- 
ly accepted  under  other  circumstances,  not  compromising  her 
independence.  Berne  was  surrounded,  and  the  French  took 
armed  possession  of  it  March  5,  1798.  The  new  constitu- 
tion— in  which  the  cantons  were  essentially  reduced  to  coun- 
ties of  a  common  State,  and  the  old  thirteen  (like  the  Ameri- 
can) were,  by  additions,  annexations  and  partitions,  divided 
into  twenty-one — went  into  operation.  Few  or  none  of  the 
historic  associations  of  the  Swiss  were  respected  in  the  new 
government,  yet  it  achieved  immediately  many  very  benefi- 
cent reforms.  The  abolition  of  torture,  and  of  the  tax  im- 
posed on  Jews  ;  the  conversion  of  the  post  service  from  a  can- 
tonal to  a  federal  one  ;  the  purchase  of  many  exclusive  priv- 
ileges of  feudal  origin  from  the  proprietors,  were  among  the 
chief  benefits.  Dr.  Albert  Rengger  and  Albert  Stapfer,  men 
of  high  views  and  great  gifts,  showed  excellent  administrative 
skill  in  their  respective  departments,  one  as  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  the  other  as  Minister  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  Many 
distinguished  men  adorned  this  period.  Charles  Louis  Hal- 
ler,  the  historian  Fuseli,  Zschokke,  Pestalozzi,  Girard,  were 
encouraged  by  Stapfer  and  employed  in  the  public  service 
in  literary  ways.  But  it  was  in  vain.  A  pure  democracy 
was  not  yet  possible.  Many  of  the  cantons  revolted,  and 
finally  Napoleon  intervened  in  1803.  A  new  constitution  cre- 
ated under  his  inspiration  caused  insurrections  in  and  about 
Zurich,  and  the  incorporation  of  Valais  with  France.  The 
allies  came  to  Switzerland.  The  power  of  the  Patrician  party 
was  confirmed,  and  what  is  known  as  tlie  federal  pact  was 
formed  in  18 15.  Under  this  the  Jesuits  were  established  at 
Freybourg,  and  new  struggles  of  the  liberal  party  became  in- 
evitable.    A  dem.ocratic  revolution  occurred  in  1830.     Po- 


Governme?it  of  Switzerlatid.  211 

litical  and  religious  revolution  followed  in  many  cantons. 
The  convents  in  Aargan  were  suppressed  in  1834,  1843. 
Civil  war  raged  at  Lucerne,  and  in  the  Valais.  The  Pope 
finally  abandoned  the  seven  cantons.  The  Swiss  Diet  voted 
the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  in  1847.  The  existing  federal 
constitution  was  adopted  in  1848.  Those  interested  in  fill- 
ing up  the  great  gaps  in  this  running  history  will  do  well  to 
consult  Mr.  Alexander  Daguet's  "  Historic  de  la  Confeder- 
ation Suisse,"  from  the  most  ancient  times  to  1864,  a  learned 
and  eloquent  work,  which  has  passed  to  its  sixth  edition.  It 
is  published  at  Lausanne,  and  is  a  recognized  authority,  being, 
I  believe,  adopted  in  the  Swiss  colleges. 

This  hasty  sketch  will  give  some  imperfect  idea  of  the  an- 
tecedents from  which  the  present  condition  of  Switzerland 
has  sprung.  She  is  a  democratic  republic,  having  a  patrician 
element  in  her  population  of  great  exclusiveness  and  much  so- 
cial dignity,  and  holding  a  large  share  of  the  landed  proper- 
ty, but  without  a  particle  of  political  influence,  and  standing 
aloof  from  all  that  is  characteristic  of  the  new  regime.  She 
is  also  a  confederation  of  cantons,  with  the  State-right  princi- 
ple, rooted  by  a  thousand  years  of  independence  in  the 
separate  cantons,  slowly  surrendering  to  the  advantages  of  a 
more  perfect  union  and  homogeneous  nationality.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  United  States,  speaking  one  language  and  all 
of  comparatively  modern  origin,  to  compare  with  the  divisions 
and  local  peculiarities  and  antagonisms  which  tend  to  main- 
tain State-right  jealousies  in  the  Swiss  cantons.  Of  three 
main  origins,  German,  French  and  Italian,  and  still  speaking 
these  three  tongues  in  their  legislative  halls  at  Berne,  with 
interpreters  sitting  by  to  explain  their  meaning  to  each  other  ; 
with  some  cantons  v/holly  Protestant,  like  Zurich  and  Berne 
and  Geneva,  and  others  wholly  Catholic,  like  Lucerne,  Frey- 
bourg  and  Uri  ;  with  traditions   reaching  back  a  thousand 


2  12  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

vears,  and  old  families  and  old  monuments  that  have  become  a 
part  of  the  very  life  of  special  neighborhoods — Switzerland 
finds  difficulty  in  accomplishing  an  effective  unity  between 
her  states,  which  few  nations  could  have  to  contend  with, 
and  which  have  been  so  far  overcome  as  to  surprise  us  at  the 
result. 

Switzerland  is  a  thorough  democracy.  Her  executive  pow- 
er resides  in  a  Council  of  seven  ministers  who  elect  one  of 
their  own  number  President  for  two  years.  He  takes  the 
portfolio  of  foreign  affairs,  but  in  other  respects,  except  in  re- 
ceiving the  representatives  of  other  powers,  is  on  a  par  with 
the  other  ministers.  His  salary  is  only  10,000  francs,  theirs 
8000.  There  are  two  Houses  corresponding  to  our  House 
of  Representatives  and  Senate.  The  cantons  send  a  Repre- 
sentative for  each  2000  of  their  population,  and  two  Senators 
each.  The  houses  meet  twice  a  year,  for  very  short  sessions, 
one  for  a  few  days,  the  other  session  for  perhaps  three  weeks. 
The  debates  are  purely  business-like,  and  relate  to  local  de- 
tails. There  is  no  chance  for  eloquent  discussion,  and  the 
speeches  are  not  reported.  The  people  retain  the  right  of 
assembling  in  mass  and  revising  any  act  of  their  Legislature. 
When  50,000  signatures  are  obtained,  a  general  meeting  in 
each  canton  may  be  called,  and  a  popular  vote  taken  from  a 
high  stand  in  the  open  field,  "  yes  "  or  "  no,"  for  any  proposed 
change  in  the  laws  or  policy  of  the  government.  And  this 
right  is  actually  exercised  from  time  to  time.  The  people 
here  thus  keep  the  "  veto,"  we  have  found  so  troublesome  in 
the  hands  of  our  President,  in  their  own  hands.  Lately,  in 
Uri,  a  citizen  was  publicly  whipped  for  having  written  and 
published  an  article  against  the  Catholic  faith.  The  event 
created  an  immense  excitement  and  discussion  in  the  Protest- 
ant cantons,  and  meetings  were  held  to  protest  against  this 
outrage  on  religious  liberty  ;  but  the  right  of  the  canton  of 


The  Swiss  People.  213 

Uri  to  whip  its  own  citizens  for  opinion's  sake  is  not  yet  re- 
strained by  any  federal  law  !  Efforts  have  been  made  to 
abate  the  odious  tax  upon  the  Jews,  which  exists  in  several 
cantons.  French  and  Belgian  Jews  in  Switzerland  are  pro- 
tected by  treaty,  but  Swiss  Jews  are  not  their  equal  in  their 
own  country,  and  it  properly  excites  great  indignation. 

The  population  of  Switzerland  is  about  2,800,000.  It  is 
divided  into  peasants,  artisans,  bourgeois  (including  shop- 
keepers, merchants,  bankers)  and  patricians.  The  last  class 
has  no  political  recognition  and  is  tranquil,  but  lives  on  its 
recollections,  its  pride,  its  titles  of  courtesy,  and  above  all,  its 
money.  Switzerland  is  poor.  In  a  few  cantons,  Zurich,  St. 
Gall,  Appenzell,  Basle,  Geneva,  it  has  some  enterprise  and 
industr}^  The  rest  are  purely  agricultural.  Its  resources 
are  the  manufacture  of  silks  (especially  ribbons),  embroider- 
ies, muslins  and  cottons,  chiefly  for  the  Oriental  market ;  its 
timber,  its  cattle,  and  its  cheese  and  its  wooden  ware.  It 
has,  of  course,  no  port,  and  conducts  its  foreign  trade  chiefly 
through  Havre.  It  sends  commercial  agents  to  North  and 
South  America,  to  India,  China  and  Japan — and  instead  of 
forcing  its  own  patterns  upon  foreign  markets,  like  England, 
it  studies  the  taste  and  copies  the  fancies  of  all  the  nations  it 
trades  with,  and  makes  its  goods  to  please  them.  But  for  its 
immense  water-power,  it  could  not  compete  in  its  isolated 
position  w'ith  the  industry  of  England  and  Belgium,  or  France 
and  Germany.  It  is  striving  to  be  allowed  by  the  other  pow- 
ers to  purchase  a  port  outside  its  own  territory — but  Ameri- 
ca, mindful  of  the  use  to  which  neutral  ports,  especially  of 
feeble  powers,  are  put  in  time  of  war,  objects  very  properly, 
and  Switzerland  can  not  afford  to  incur  the  displeasure  of 
America — from  whose  citizens,  first  in  trade  and  then  in 
pleasure  travel,  she  draws  so  large  an  annual  income.  Basle 
and  Geneva  are  the  moneyed  centres  of  Switzerland  ;  Zurich 


2  14  1^^^^  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

and  St.  Gall  its  industrial  centres  ;  Geneva  and  Zurich  its 
intellectual  centres  ;  Freybourg  the  centre  of  its  Catholicism. 
There  is  very  little  wealth  in  the  country,  and  no  superfluous 
capital.  Berne  is  a  slow  city,  with  a  sluggish  population,  and 
a  reputation  for  much  addictedness  to  carnal  sins — its  com- 
mon people  drinking  themselves  stupid  on  schnapps  and 
smoking  themselves  copper-colored  with  tobacco  as  coarse  as 
cabbage  leaves.  Still  the  Bernese  have  shown  themselves 
patriotic  and  brave,  and  when  aroused,  very  capable  and  de- 
termined. There  are  very  fine  buildings  now  going  up  under 
the  inspiration  of  companies,  who  borrow  capital  and  build 
on  speculation.  It  is  painful  to  hear  the  low  accounts  given 
of  the  public  morality.  Purity  and  fidelity  to  marriage  vows 
are  considered  exceptional  in  Berne.  The  peasants  and  arti- 
sans are  very  careless  of  chastity,  and  illegitimate  offspring 
are  frightfully  common.  Some  old  customs  connected  with 
the  intercourse  of  affianced  parties  are  too  shameful  to  be 
any  thing  more  than  thus  hinted  at.  I  always  distrust 
sweeping  charges  of  dishonesty,  unchastity  or  falsehood, 
against  any  class  or  community,  but  the  testimony  of  peo- 
ple here  on  the  spot  touching  the  moral  life  of  the  Bernese 
peasantry  is  very  discouraging.  Wages  are  better  than  I 
feared,  from  30  to  50  cents  per  day,  and  in  skilled  labor,  75 
cents.  The  prisoners  in  all  the  cantons  do  a  large  part  of 
all  the  public  work.  They  are  farmed  out  in  gangs  to  pri- 
vate persons,  under  a  guard,  and  are  preferred  to  ordinary 
labor  because  better  controlled.  "  They  don't  listen  so  much 
to  the  birds,"  said  my  informant.  I  saw  both  women  and 
men  returning  at  sunset,  from  their  daily  tasks  as  hired  la- 
borers, to  the  prison  at  Berne.  The  band  of  women  was 
under  an  unarmed  woman-superintendent,  and  what  kept 
them  from  running  away,  I  could  not  see. 

Switzerland  has  200,000  men  capable  of  bearing  arms. 


Revenue  from    Travelers.  215 

who,  without  much  expense  to  the  cantons  or  the  federal 
government,  are  kept  for  six  weeks  every  year  under  drill  in 
encampments  or  at  barracks,  and  made  well  acquainted  with 
the  life  and  duty  of  soldiers.  Besides  a  uniform  and  their 
living,  they  receive  about  three  cents  a  day  in  wages.  The 
young  men  make  a  frolic  of  it,  so  far  as  is  compatible  with 
the  severit}^  of  the  drill.  A  staff  of  about  150  officers  are  in 
constant  sendee  and  under  government  pay.  They  are  the 
teachers  and  organizers  of  the  rank  and  file.  The  Swiss, 
mercenary  as  they  have  so  often  been,  are  good  soldiers  and 
take  naturally  to  arms.  The  federal  government  has  an  in- 
come of  about  twelve  million  francs.  Berne  offered  the  cen- 
tral government  a  palace,  or  National  Congress  Hall,  if  the 
Legislature  would  make  her  chief  city  the  federal  capital. 
She  has  accordingly  erected  a  handsome  and  suitable  edi- 
fice, containing  an  upper  and  a  lower  chamber — the  meeting- 
place  of  the  popular  House  and  of  the  Senate,  or  Council  of 
State.  It  is  a  costly  and  creditable  building.  A  picture 
here  of  William  Tell  pushing  off  in  his  boat  after  having  kill- 
ed Gessler,  led  me  to  inquire  of  a  competent  authority  how 
well-attested  that  world-renowned  story  was,  and  I  regret  to 
say  that  the  antiquarians  of  Switzerland  are  much  inclined  to 
give  the  story  a  mythic  origin  and  interpretation.  The  tale 
will,  however,  survive  all  historical  scepticism,  having  been 
accepted  as  true  to  humanity,  if  not  to  fact.  In  short,  it 
ought  to  be  true,  if  it  is  not. 

The  pecuniary  importance  to  Switzerland  of  the  annual 
influx  of  pleasure-seekers,  is  confessed  to  be  immense.  In- 
dependent of  purchases,  the  mere  money  expended  at  hotels 
is  estimated  at  not  less  than  $3,000,000.  The  trade  in 
carved  woods  last  year  was  nearly  three  millions  of  francs. 
When  it  is  considered  that  probably  not  less  than  300,000 
visitors  go  through  Switzerland  every  favorable  year,  the  im- 


2i6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

portance  of  this  tide  of  strangers,  with  loose  purse-strings, 
becomes  very  obvious.  Last  year  the  German  war  and  the 
financial  distress  in  England  kept  both  Continental  and  En- 
glish travelers  very  generally  out  of  Switzerland,  while  the 
cessation  of  our  war  encouraged  so  many  Americans  to  visit 
Europe,  that  it  is  confessed  that  they  alone  saved  the  larger 
hotels  from  ruin  last  season.  Ordinarily  about  as  many  En- 
glish as  Americans  annually  visit  Switzerland.  Last  year 
and  this,  it  is  said  that  the  proportion  is  as  three  to  one  in 
favor  of  America.  Americans  are  known  at  once  at  the 
hotels  by  their  freer  expenditures,  their  pronunciation,  and 
their  paler  visages.  The  Britishers  call  them  "  faded  English- 
men," they  think  themselves  cuter  and  sharper,  and  only  less 
fat  and  bloated  than  their  British  ancestors.  "  I  am  taller 
than  your  Majesty,"  said  one  of  Napoleon's  marshals,  as  he 
handed  him  a  book  from  a  shelf  which  the  Little  Corporal  was 
straining  to  reach.  "Longer,"  replied  the  Emperor.  There 
are  two  ways  of  looking  at  most  things.  I  confess  I  see  very 
little  of  the  disagreeable  qualities  of  John  Bull  as  a  traveler. 
His  growl,  his  reticence,  his  exactingness,  I  have  not  yet  en- 
countered. His  pronunciation  of  his  and  our  language  I 
think  better  than  our  own,  i.  e.,  in  the  traveling  class.  The 
influence  of  all  this  travel  on  the  character  and  fortunes  of  the 
Swiss  can  not  be  good.  For  four  months  Switzerland  stops 
her  national  life  to  wait  on  the  traveling  world.  To  make 
the  greatest  harvest  out  of  this  pleasure-seeking  throng  is 
her  sole  occupation  on  the  ever-expanding  lines  of  travel 
through  her  territory.  Her  hotel-keepers  seem  to  be  among 
her  most  important  citizens.  Intellectual-looking  young 
men  are  waiters  in  her  inns.  The  only  good-looking  women 
in  Switzerland,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  are  those  connected  in 
some  way  with  the  wants  of  strangers.  An  immense  system 
of  beggary  is  carried  on  by  children.     The  Cretins  and  Goi- 


Poverty  of  the  Swiss.  217 

tres  trade  in  their  afflictions.  The  eight  months  when  the 
country  is  empty  of  visitors  must  leave  a  very  large  set  of 
idlers  and  persons  demoralized  and  broken  up  in  business. 
Then  the  great  hotels  are  closed,  or  do  no  supporting  busi- 
ness. The  spirit  of  the  country  must  become  mercenary  and 
petty,  or  tend  to  become  so,  under  these  circumstances. 
Greece  had  "the  fatal  gift  of  beauty,"  and  perished  of  her 
own  loveliness.  Switzerland  is  in  danger  of  losing  her  free- 
dom and  her  national  life,  in  waiting  on  the  world  round  her 
mountains  and  valleys.  It  becomes  her  to  look  to  the  effect 
of  all  this  seductive  publicity  of  life. 

The  peasants  in  Switzerland  live  poorly  and  work  hard. 
They  are  up  and  out  at  their  labors  in  the  summer-time  at 
2  o'clock,  A.M.  (in  winter  at  4  a.m.),  and,  with  an  hour's  in- 
termission, keep  at  it  till  6  p.m.  The  cheese  business,  very 
modern  in  its  origin  (not  more  than  forty  years  old),  but 
now  immense,  deprives  the  peasants  of  the  milk  of  their 
cows  and  goats,  which  has  disastrously  ceased  to  be  the  na- 
tional food.  They  have  substituted  coffee  and  schnapps, 
and  poison  themselves  and  their  children  by  their  use.  Their 
cretinism  is  the  result  of  their  terrible  intermarriages  in  their 
small  valleys,  their  insufficient  food,  their  schnapps,  and  their 
abominable  pipes,  to  which  add  their  filth,  and  their  cold, 
stone  basements,  with  the  malarious  air  of  their  unsunned 
valleys.  Goitre,  hard  and  soft,  comes  from  the  same  general 
causes,  and  the  lime  in  the  water  acting  on  feeble  and  over- 
worked constitutions. 

There  is  an  unspeakable  poverty  in  Switzerland.  From 
ten  to  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  population  are  paupers,  living 
on  their  respective  cantons  !  And,  alas  !  this  is  so  common 
that  it  hardly  seems  any  disgrace.  The  almshouse  appears 
to  be  the  expected  retreat  of  the  old  age  of  many  thousands. 
There  is  even  an  almshouse  for  the  bourgeois  in  Berne,  in 

K 


2i8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

which  it  is  said  that  some  decayed  patricians  find  a  home. 
By  paying  about  a  thousand  dollars,  a  Bernese  citizen  may 
purchase  the  right  of  being  comfortably  provided  for  at  this 
place  in  his  old  age,  while  he  has  a  certain  immediate  right 
to  an  annual  amount  of  fuel  and  a  small  percentage  of  in- 
come (in  all  say  ^50  worth)  per  year.  There  are  abundant 
evidences  in  Berne  that  the  old  mischief  of  substituting  pub- 
lic care  for  private  industry  and  thrift,  has  found  too  much 
favor.  How  to  live  with  least  work  and  least  self-providence 
is  a  fatal  question.  Domestic  life  is  at  a  low  level  in  the 
artisan  and  peasant  class,  and,  I  suspect,  not  high  in  the 
bourgeois.  Men  of  families  spend  all  their  leisure  at  the 
wine-shop  and  the  club-house.  The  women  are  left  to  them- 
selves, and  they  take  their  revenges.  On  the  whole,  Berne 
does  not  present  a  very  encouraging  show  for  the  moral  and 
social  future  of  Switzerland.  One  of  the  testimonies  to  the 
degradation  of  labor  is  seen  in  the  present  general  use  of 
the  tread-mill  as  the  approved  method  of  raising  stone  in 
house  building.  In  a  hollow  wheel  of  twenty  feet  diameter, 
tread,  like  a  squirrel  in  a  rotary  cage,  these  poor  human  be- 
ings— all  day  long  throwing  their  avoirdupois  into  the  scale, 
as  their  sole  function.  Such  brainless,  handless  business  for 
grown  men,  struck  me  with  disgust  and  horror.  Six  of  these 
wheels,  some  of  them  forty  feet  in  the  air,  were  going  all  day 
at  the  corner  of  the  street,  where  a  public  saloon  was  in 
process  of  building.  I  have  not  seen  in  all  Europe  a  worse 
indication  of  the  backwardness  of  public  opinion ;  and  this 
in  democratic  Switzerland  !  The  fact  is,  with  a  thoroughly 
free  constitution,  there  is  an  immense  practical  restriction 
on  liberty  in  Switzerland.  The  cantons  do  not  permit  each 
other's  citizens  to  move  freely  from  canton  to  canton.  They 
must  first  give  elaborate  evidence  of  their  self-supporting 
power  before  they  can  come  in.     They  can  not  marry  with- 


Sluggishness  of  the  People.  219 

out  a  great  many  expensive  formalities.  There  are  hun- 
dreds of  local  restrictions  upon  industry.  There  is  no  ca- 
reer open  to  enterprising  young  men.  Honest  failure  in  bus- 
iness is  permanent  ruin.  To  be  in  debt  is  to  be  without 
character  or  hope.  Jealousy  and  solicitude  about  being  sad- 
dled with  more  paupers  increases  cantonal  narrowness  and 
magnifies  State-right  feeling.  It  is  the  bane  of  Switzerland. 
Doubtless  it  decreases  slowly,  but  it  is  still  in  full  force.  Re- 
ligious freedom  practically  is  very  weak.  The  Catholic  can- 
tons allow  very  little  expression  to  Protestant  opinion,  and 
the  Protestants  are  intolerant  of  Catholic  feeling,  and  both 
oppress  the  Jewish  citizen.  If  there  were  more  fervor  and 
earnestness  of  faith,  this  would  be  more  excusable,  but  there 
is  little  evidence  of  a  deep  religiousness  in  either  Catholics 
or  Protestants.  The  women  keep  up  their  pious  usages — 
but  the  men  are  negligent  of  public  worship.  The  Prussian 
compulsory  school  system  prevails,  and  education  of  the  best 
kind  is  cheap  and  accessible.  But  education  without  equal 
political  rights  and  an  open  and  inspiring  life,  with  opportu- 
nity to  rise  and  acquire  personal  and  family  independence, 
has  never  yet  done  much  to  stimulate  and  develop  general 
intelligence — and  it  does  not  do  it  in  Switzerland. 

The  bear,  the  symbol  of  this  capital  and  canton,  is  a 
sluggish  animal.  On  the  gates  and  upon  the  public  monu- 
ments he  presents  himself  with  his  small  head  and  bulky 
body,  his  short  legs  and  good-natured,  easy  air,  a  somewhat 
faithful  representation  of  the  people  who  are  so  proud  of  his 
name  and  figure.  In  the  famous  bear-pit  at  one  end  of  the 
city,  a  crowd  of  idlers  may  usually  be  seen  looking  at  him 
as  he  lazily  lolls  about  his  small  estate.  Berne  would  do 
better  to  imitate  some  more  active  animal.  The  chamois 
or  the  deer  would  set  a  happier  example. 

The  United  States  are  fortunate  in  having  so  intelligent 


220 


The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


and  active  a  Minister  as  Mr.  Harrington,  at  Berne.  His  kind 
attentions  to  American  visitors  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude 
of  his  countrymen,  and  his  watchful  care  of  our  public  inter- 
ests is  no  doubt  well  understood  at  Washington. 


XX. 


SAVOY    AND    GENEVA 


September  15,  1867. 

TT  is  Sunday,  and  I  have  just  returned  from  the  morning 
worship  in  the  EngUsh  chapel,  where  the  very  long  service 
was  excellently  read  by  an  English  clergyman,  who,  by  the 
red-scarf  at  his  back,  must  have  been  a  University  man. 
The  church  was  full  of  English  people — and  very  devout 
and  well-instructed  in  the  service  they  were.  There  was 
none  of  the  wandering  attention,  none  of  the  silence  or  mut- 
tering in  the  responses,  observed  so  often  in  American 
Episcopal  services.  They  seem,  too,  to  have  agreed  in  the 
English  Church  upon  a  few  hymns,  set  to  well-chosen  tunes, 
which  whole  congregations  can  join  in.  The  chants  are  sim- 
ple and  appropriate.  I  must  say  that  the  English  Church 
service,  as  I  hear  it  on  the  Continent,  formal,  long,  repetitious 
as  it  is,  has  a  body  and  substance  to  it  which,  after  the  thin- 
ness of  other  Protestant  services,  at  home  and  abroad,  is  re- 
freshing. It  has  good  sound  English  muscle  in  it,  and  if  it  is 
a  form,  it  is  made  of  English  broadcloth  and  not  of  paper- 
muslin  or  shoddy.  The  power  and  influence  of  the  English 
Establishment  is  felt  at  the  remotest  extremities  of  the  nation, 
in  all  its  colonies,  and  wherever  Englishmen  journey.  There 
are  150,000  English  citizens  who  live,  for  cheapness,  on  the 
Continent,  and  probably  as  many  more  who  are  always  pleas- 
ure-traveling there.  It  is  a  matter  of  first-rate  political  and 
religious  importance  to  bring  these  people  under  the  influ- 


2  22  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ence  of  the  national  religion,  and  great  pains  are  taken  to 
do  this.  It  is  plain,  however,  that  the  English  Church  is 
largely  a  political  institution.  It  is  used  to  maintain  the  En- 
glish ideas  of  monarchy  and  of  nobility,  and  the  prayers  and  lit- 
any keep  up  offensively  in  God's  house  the  distinctions,  social 
and  political,  which  it  is  so  desirable  to  forget  there.  On  the 
other  hand,  from  an  English  point  of  view,  nothing  can  be 
conceived  better  adapted  to  the  support  of  the  national  pre- 
dilections or  principles  than  their  Establishment.  And,  con- 
sidering the  essential  unspirituality  of  the  race,  perhaps  the 
liturgy  proposes  a  set  of  grooves  for  religious  thought  and 
feeling,  which,  if  not  thus  economized  and  directed,  would 
mainly  evaporate  or  dry  up.  Any  one  who  watches  the  girls 
and  boys,  the  young  women  and  young  men,  saying  the  creed 
of  the  English  liturgy,  with  an  implicit  reverence,  into  which 
thought  and  choice  evidently  enter  very  little,  sees  plainly 
that  the  theory  is  not  to  encourage  any  thought  or  choice 
about  it,  but  to  take  the  best  means  for  stamping  a  faith, 
which  has  been  thought  out  and  agreed  upon  by  competent  per- 
sons, upon  those  who  are  probably  to  have  no  faith,  or  only  a 
very  foolish  and  ineffectual  one,  if  they  are  not  thus  furnished. 
There  is  an  immense  deal  to  be  said  in  favor  of  this  side  of 
the  question.  It  is  the  Roman  Catholic  notion  of  the  right- 
ful authority  and  solemn  duty  of  the  Church  to  provide  the 
people  with  a  sound  creed.  The  English  Establishment 
adopts  it  just  as  far  as  the  Protestant  atmosphere  in  which  it 
breathes  will  allow,  and  with  excellent  effect,  so  far  as  a  faith 
out  of  which  intellectual  life  and  personal  spiritual  struggle 
for  a  satisfactory  theory  and  experience  of  religion  are  sys- 
tematically struck,  can  produce  satisfactory  results.  The  En- 
glish people  are  really  reverential — decidedly  under  the  in- 
fluence of  belief  They  believe  in  the  being  and  providence 
of  God ;  in  the  reality  of  Christ's  mission  and  the  efficacy  of 


The  Peace  Congress.  223 

his  death ;  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  in  a  judgment 
to  come.  The  average  mind,  the  middle  station  of  the  En- 
glish, appears  to  be  in  a  state  of  Christian  belief  which  one 
looks  for  in  vain  in  the  same  class  on  the  Continent.  And  it 
is  doubtless  very  much  due  to  the  influence  of  an  Established 
Church. 

Every  Unitarian  Protestant  knows  what  is  to  be  said  on 
the  other  side,  and  how  immensely  important  to  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  intellect  and  to  the  freedom  of  the  conscience 
an  entire  absence  of  any  Establishment  and  of  any  creed  or 
liturgy  whatsoever  is  thought  to  be.  But  those  who  carry 
out  their  confidence  in  the  entire  competency  of  each  and 
every  human  soul  to  discover  and  adopt  a  faith  for  itself, 
and  who  assert  and  feel  that  no  faith  which  has  not  been 
thus  personally  thought  out  and  adopted  is  of  any  worth, 
must  be  prepared  to  see  Christianity  set  aside  as  essentially 
and  historically  a  superstition  and  an  offense,  by  men  who 
are  honest  and  influential ;  and  not  only  Christianity,  but 
religion  of  any  sort  or  kind. 

The  Peace  Congress  at  Geneva,  which  rose  on  Thursday 
last,  was  composed  of  one  of  the  most  earnest  bodies  of  men 
ever  assembled,  and  of  men  of  obviously  excellent  and  hu- 
mane dispositions — men  who  had,  many  of  them,  made  life- 
long sacrifices  to  their  love  of  freedom  and  to  their  sense  of 
the  wrongs  of  the  oppressed  masses.  The  speeches  were  elo- 
quent and  earnest,  almost  without  exception.  I  have  care- 
fully read  the  report  of  all  that  was  said  and  done,  and  have 
been  very  much  impressed  with  the  sincerit}',  courage  and 
ability  of  many,  not  to  say  most  of  the  speakers.  But  it  is 
perfectly  plain  that  the  vast  majority  of  that  Congress  re- 
garded the  Christian  religion,  and  all  religion,  as  one  of  the 
main  obstacles  to  human  equalit)^  and  the  progress  of  society. 
The  Church,  and  the  priests,  and  all  its  ministers  were  ac- 


2  24  ^l'<^  Old  World  ill  its  New  Face. 

complices  with  the  privileged  class  who  had  fastened  arbi- 
trary governments  upon  the  nations.  They  had  come  to- 
gether in  the.  name  of  Peace,  universal  peace,  and  to  put  an 
end  to  wars ;  but  it  was  maintained  by  one  of  the  speakers 
that  Christ — whom  the  world  has  called  the  Prince  of  Peace 
— was  on  the  contrary  an  avowed  advocate  of  war,  and  had 
declared  that  he  came  to  bring  not  peace  but  a  sword — and 
that  his  words  had  been  fulfilled  by  the  wars  which  religion 
had  never  ceased  to  inspire  from  the  time  of  Constaatine  to 
the  late  war  about  the  holy  places.  Not  only  was  the  Papacy 
attacked  as  the  chief  buttress  of  political  absolutism,  but  it 
was  declared  over  and  over  again,  with  applause,  that  the 
world  owed  nothing  to  religion  good  or  needful,  and  had  out- 
lived it,  as  in  every  way  a  puerility  and  a  bugbear.  Gari- 
baldi himself,  pure  and  worthy  man  that  he  is,  and  seeming- 
ly beyond  the  reach  even  of  the  corrupting  flattery  of  which 
he  is  the  subject,  pronounced  religion  to  be  identical  with 
science,  and  Newton  and  Galileo  and  Arago  its  only  true 
priests  ;  and  one  of  the  speakers  declared  that  Garibaldi  was 
the  modern  Jesus  Christ,  who  had  come  to  do  away  with  re- 
ligion and  substitute  social  justice  and  political  equality  for 
it.  There  was  enough  caution  and  common  sense  left  in  the 
Congress  to  prevent  these  private  expressions  from  being 
made  a  part  of  the  action  of  the  whole  body,  but  no  policy 
could  hide  the  sympathy  felt  for  them  by  the  majority,  or 
prevent  the  impression  they  will  make  upon  the  world. 
Here,  in  the  only  free  State  on  the  Continent,  the  philan- 
thropic enthusiasts  of  all  countries  have  met  in  the  interests 
of  universal  humanity,  to  deprecate  wars  and  fightings  among 
men,  to  inaugurate  the  reign  of  political  economy,  free  trade, 
arbitration  of  all  differences,  and  lasting  peace  among  men. 
They  have  found  the  source  of  wars  to  be  the  existence  of 
hereditary  families  and  prescriptive  rights,  the  existence  of 


Fositivist  Reco7istructioti.  225 

personal  rulers,  instead  of  laws  administered  by  democracies  ; 
and  tliey  have  found  what  men  call  religion,  in  all  its  forms, 
to  be  a  distraction,  a  substitute  for  justice,  an  ally  of  tyrants, 
a  buttress  of  inequalities.  Since  the  times  of  Robespierre, 
and  the  union  of  Red  Republicanism  and  Atheism,  under 
the  French  Directory,  nothing  has  appeared  so  much  like  it 
as  the  debates  of  this  Peace  Congress.  It  was,  in  short,  the 
old  political  and  social  idealism  of  that  day  dressed  in  mod- 
ern costume,  and  Quakerized  by  the  pacific  object  of  the 
gathering. 

I  believe  that  great  good  will  come  out  of  this  event. 
The  tendencies  of  a  rising  school  of  naturalists  and  humani- 
tarians will  be  exhibited  on  a  high  platform,  and  by  men 
having  a  right  to  speak  for  their  fellows.  These  tendencies 
are  to  a  purely  scientific  and  logical  ordering  of  society. 
The  instincts  and  passions  are  left  out  of  the  account. 
Nothing  that  is  not  demonstrable  by  science  is  to  be  cred- 
ited, nothing  that  is  not  level  with  human  reason  is  to  be 
tolerated.  There  is  nothing  sacred  in  any  of  the  traditions 
of  the  race,  nothing  providential  in  the  method  of  its  unfold- 
ing. The  place  which  reverence  and  faith  have  held  in  the 
heart  and  life  of  the  world  are  to  be  henceforth  filled  with 
the  latest  maxims  of  political  economy.  An  enlightened 
self-interest  is  to  occupy  the  vacant  throne  of  the  universe, 
and  for  prayers  men  are  to  learn  the  multiplication  table. 
This,  I  believe,  is  what  Secularism,  Positivism,  Naturalism, 
all  point  at,  and,  left  to  themselves,  would  finally  come  to. 
They  are  striving  to  root  out  all  the  historical  and  providen- 
tial faith  in  the  world,  to  plant  their  patent  philanthropy  in 
its  place.  So  far  as  they  succeed  they  will  bring  evils  they 
little  dream  of  in  place  of  those  they  are  aiming  to  expel. 
This  wretched,  priest-ridden,  superstition-darkened  world,  out 
of  which,  according  to  Mr.  Edgar  Quinet — one  of  the  most 

K  2 


2  26  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

distinguished  members  of  the  Convention  —  all  conscience 
has  died,  is,  in  my  poor  judgment,  a  paradise  compared  with 
what  a  world  would  be  under  the  Providence  of  the  Peace 
Congress.  Welcome  war,  Caesarism,  social  inequalities,  Ro- 
man Catholic  superstitions,  welcome  all  existing  evils,  with 
some  faith  in  one  overruling  Providence,  a  living  God  and 
Father  of  men,  a  guiding  spirit  which  has  never  left  the 
world  without  some  witness  of  itself — a  Church  which  has 
foundations  in  a  living  corner-stone — rather  than  everlasting 
peace,  universal  democracy,  perfect  free  trade  and  general 
equality,  in  a  Godless,  Christless,  faithless,  self-worshiping 
world,  such  as  political  economists  and  Peace  Congresses  are 
striving  to  prepare  for  us.  Were  there  no  immortal  and  un- 
seen interests  involved,  the  mere  decay  of  imagination  and 
passion  out  of  this  utilitarian  world  would  make  it  hateful 
to  dwell  in.  Religion,  if  it  were  the  superstition  these  theo- 
rists make  it,  would  be  a  blessing,  compared  with  the  light 
which  is  to  banish  it  from  the  world — a  light  that  would 
blind  with  its  fierceness. 

War  is  an  immense  evil ;  but  there  are  far  greater  evils, 
among  which  is  a  stupid,  money-worshiping,  calculating,  ma- 
terialistic peace.  Society,  without  great  passions,  great  pow- 
ers of  self-sacrifice,  great  hopes  and  great  experiences,  would 
be  like  the  ocean  without  winds  or  storms — a  sink  of  cor- 
ruption, a  vast  puddle.  In  proportion  as  the  world  grows 
richer,  safer,  more  populous  and  more  industrial,  religion 
must  become  a  more  vital  and  ethereal  power,  must  do  not 
only  its  own  ancient  work,  but  also  the  work  of  Poetry  and 
Romance — or  the  world  will  become  a  mere  workshop  and 
restaurant.  As  to  extinguishing  wars  by  Debating  Societies 
or  Peace  Congresses,  we  may  hope  as  soon  to  establish  Com- 
munism and  Fourierism  by  Lyceum  lectures.  It  is  not  war, 
but  the  inevitable   conflict  of  human  interests,  prejudices, 


True  Peace  Policy.  227 

passions  and  convictions  that  is  to  be  abated,  and  a  society 
for  abolishing  war  is  a  society  for  bringing  in  human  perfec- 
tion at  once.  But  for  past  wars  society  would  still  be  in 
barbarism.  The  very  freedom  to  debate  the  question  of  uni- 
versal peace  has  been  won  by  war.  Slavery  has  just  been 
extinguished  by  war  in  the  United  States.  The  independ- 
ence of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  model  of  all  fu- 
ture States,  was  established  by  war.  War  is  not  an  essen- 
tial e\'il,  like  falsehood,  selfishness,  vice  and  crime.  It  is  to 
be  classed  with  storms  and  elemental  strifes,  the  only  method 
known  by  which,  under  certain  circumstances,  the  balance 
of  forces  is  restored.  It  is  good  or  bad,  right  or  wrong,  ac- 
cording as  it  is  waged,  and  the  motives  impelling  to  it. 
There  must  need  be  offenses,  but  woe  to  him  by  whom  the 
offense  cometh.  Let  us  ply  all  the  means  of  education,  of 
political  emancipation,  of  moral  and  religious  inspiration  we 
possess,  and  wars  will  take  care  of  themselves.  We  shall  al- 
ways have  them  when  political  and  social  knots  can  not  be 
untied  and  yet  must  somehow  be  loosened.  War  is  the 
knife  that  cuts  these  knots.  If  we  would  avoid  wars,  we 
must  see  that  these  knots  are  not  tied. 

It  is  important  not  to  allow  the  excesses  of  Rationalism 
to  drive  us  into  reactionary  measures.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
the  present  tendencies  of  scientific  thought  and  philosophic- 
al speculation  have  provoked  a  Ritualistic  zeal  and  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  fever  in  England.  The  more  I  see  of  religion 
abroad,  the  better  satisfied  I  am  that  American  Unitarians, 
of  the  historical  and  positive  school,  possess  a  type  of  Chris- 
tianity precisely  adapted  to  the  present  wants  of  society,  and 
unspeakably  precious  to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  Church. 
If  Christianity,  as  we  know  it  and  maintain  it,  were  known  in 
Europe,  it  would  reconcile  some  of  the  most  perilous  antago- 
nisms now  existing,  and  enable  men  to  distinguish  between 


2  28  The  Old  World  in  its  Ne^u  Face. 

faith  and  superstition,  and  the  Church  and  priestcraft.  The 
prevailing  impression  that  Hfe  here  and  life  hereafter  have 
no  common  term  and  can  not  be  resolved  in  one  equation,  is 
one  which  American  Unitarians  have  done  more,  practically, 
to  correct  than  any  other  branch  of  the  Church.  Our  pre- 
cious faith  has  weathered  successfully  the  storm  of  the  nine- 
teenth century — not  by  going  into  harbor  and  suffering  the 
dry-rot  while  waiting  for  tranquil  weather,  but  by  throwing 
overboard  or  cutting  away  what  could  not  bear  the  winds  or 
float  on  the  waves  sent  by  an  all-wise  Providence,  keeping 
only  what  was  precious  in  the  cargo  and  indispensable  in  the 
vessel.  Accordingly,  with  sound  and  tried  timbers,  we  are 
ready  to  face  the  hard  weather  of  the  times ;  and  I  believe 
millions  would  take  passage  with  us,  who  now  suppose  the 
voyage  of  faith  an  impossible  venture,  if  we  only  had  our 
principles  duly  advertised.  Unitarians  who  know  themselves 
to  be  Christians  in  belief,  and  love  and  prize  that  name 
above  all  others,  are  called  to  a  new  zeal  and  courage. 
They  are  not  a  hundredth  part  as  confident  and  self-assert- 
ing as  they  should  be.  The  world  is  waiting  for  their  guid- 
ance. They  are  capable  of  making  a  new  reformation, 
would  they  only  accept  their  mission.  With  a  rational  and 
historical  faith  that  is  evangelical  in  its  origin  and  spirit, 
they  have  broken  away  from  the  dogmas  which  are  now  sink- 
ing those  who  continue  to  cling  to  them.  As  our  own 
church  re-opens  to-day,  Sept.  15th,  after  the  summer  vacation^ 
I  have  spent  much  of  this  Sunday,  here  in  the  shadow  of 
Mont  Blanc,  reflecting  upon  its  interests  and  those  of  the  de- 
nomination with  which  it  is  so  closely  associated.  Clouds 
and  darkness,  wind  and  rain,  obscure  the  sky  and  envelop 
the  summits  around  this  narrow  valley,  but  I  hear  the  sound 
of  the  Arve  rushing  under  my  window  to  the  Rhone  and  to 
the  sea.     It  speaks  of  a  way  out  of  the  darkness  and  storm. 


Thoughts  of  Home.  229 

the  way  of  faith.  I  take  the  lesson  of  this  voice.  Fed  from 
eternal  snows  and  nursed  at  the  bosom  of  the  glacier,  cra- 
dled in  this  rocky  valley  and  passing  its  stormy  youth  amid 
dashing  precipices  and  falling  avalanches,  the  wild,  cold  tor- 
rent is  pointed  for  the  sea,  and  will  find  itself  at  last  in  the 
warm  and  tropic-shored  Mediterranean.  Our  faith  has  had  its 
cold  and  stormy  time,  its  day  of  small  things  and  of  public  in- 
difference or  opposition.  If  we  will.,  that  day  is  over.  May 
God  dispose  the  heart  of  the  church  and  congregation  over 
which  he  has  set  me  as  minister  for  so  many  happy  years  to 
do  its  part  toward  upholding  and  illustrating  the  power  of 
pure  Unitarian  Christianity  !  And  may  this  new  ecclesiastic- 
al year,  opening  under  the  benignant  influence  of  Brother 
CoUyer's  prayers  and  preaching,  be  richer  than  any  past  year 
in  works  of  mercy,  in  acts  of  faith,  and  in  the  demonstration 
of  the  spirit  of  holiness  and  love  ! 


XXI. 


CHAMOUNI 


September  17, 1867. 


'"pHE  road  from  Geneva  to  Chamouni  lies  through  the  val- 
ley of  the  Arve,  which  is  broad  and  not  specially  pict- 
uresque.    It  is  infested  with  beggars,  who,  after  a  generation 
of  experience,  have  learned  all  the  arts  of  moving  compas- 
sion or  profiting  by  the  impatience  of  their  victims.      They 
know  just  how  to  approach  the  old  and  the  young,  the  sensi- 
tive and  the  frigid,  the  wary  and  the  careless.     No  airs  of  in- 
difference or  pretended  ignorance  of  their  presence  discon- 
cert or  discourage  their  purpose.     They  reckon  very  little  on 
sympathy  or  pity.      They  know  that  the  traveler  has  seen 
hundreds  of  just  such  beggars  as  themselves  within  a  few 
hours,  and  has  exhausted  his  sensibility.     They  know  that 
they  are  regarded  as  engaged  in  a  sort  of  business,  and  are 
of  the  nature  of  petty  highwaymen.     And  they  pursue  their 
calling  on  business  principles.     A  shelf  on  the  road,  where 
after  a  severe  ascent  the  horses  must  breathe,  is  a  very  fa- 
vorite position  for  infirm  beggars.     They  have  you  shut  up 
to  their  importunity  long  enough  to  make  pretty  sure  of  your 
resistance  giving  out.     A  long  hill,  where  younger  beggars 
can  keep  up  with  the  carriage  for  half  a  mile,  is  another 
choice  position.     Armed  with  a  few  faded  flowers  or  a  half- 
dozen  unripe  plums,  the  sturdy  beggar  is  more  than  a  match 
for  most  temperaments.      If  you  don't  surrender  the  first 
quarter  of  a  mile,  you  will  have  to  pay  double  for  it  in  the 


Approach  to  Mont  Blanc.  231 

course  of  the  second  quarter.  Running  beside  the  carriage 
for  a  whole  mile,  without  asking  for  any  thing,  is  a  method 
adopted  by  girls  of  ten  and  twelve,  who  expect  such  silent 
and  breathless  devotion  sooner  or  later  to  be  handsomely 
and  piteously  rewarded.  Mothers  with  a  babe  in  arms,  fol- 
lowed by  a  troop  of  children ;  old  men,  looking  hungry  and 
childless ;  cretins,  goitres,  the  lame  and  deformed,  all  train 
in  this  company.  And  yet  I  feel  bound  to  say  that  this  class 
does  not  seem  so  large  as  it  did  twenty  years  ago.  Since 
Savoy  became  a  part  of  France  it  may  have  fallen  under  its 
influence,  which  steadily  opposes  mendicity,  and  very  suc- 
cessfully suppresses  it  in  Paris  and  throughout  its  home 
provinces. 

Beyond  Bonneville  the  valley  becomes  narrower  and  the 
mountains  steeper.  The  geological  formation  of  the  cliffs,  the 
circular  bend  of  the  strata,  as  if  giants  had  been  playing  with 
dividers  upon  the  flat  walls,  and  the  architectural  effects  of 
the  broken  summits,  make  the  road  interesting  to  St.  Martin 
or  Sallenches,  where  Mont  Blanc  comes  into  view.  To  those 
who  have  enjoyed  the  magnificent  views  of  the  mountains 
from  Lake  Leman,  between  Morges  and  Geneva,  this  nearer 
prospect  will  not  be  very  impressive,  as  indeed  none  of  the 
near  views  of  Mont  Blanc  are.  In  short,  so  large  an  object 
requires  a  very  large  space  for  its  exhibition  and  a  very  con- 
siderable distance  to  take  it  in.  Near  it  you  see  it  in  parts, 
and  are  almost  in  the  condition  of  a  fly  walking  on  a  statue, 
who,  if  he  thought  at  all,  might  mistake  a  finger  or  a  toe  for 
the  whole  figure.  The  parts  hide  the  whole.  There  are 
great  charms  in  the  valley  of  Chamouni ;  and  the  vicinity  of 
Mont  Blanc,  independent  of  any  good  view  of  him,  is  exciting. 
You  see  the  route  by  which,  with  such  peril  and  fatality,  the 
summit  has  been  sought.  The  magnificent  Aiguilles,  that 
fence  in  the  southern  side,  are  in  full  view,  and  play  an  en- 


232  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

chanting  part  when  bathed  in  moonlight  or  bidding  adieu  to 
the  sun,  or  floating  like  islets  in  the  clouds.  The  smooth,  culti- 
vated valley,  fifteen  miles  long  and  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
broad,  is  always  offering  its  green  and  checkered  surface  as  a 
place  of  repose  for  the  eye  weary  with  up-looking  and  with 
wild  sublimity.  The  village  which  has  grown  up  here,  with  its 
half-dozen  grand  hotels  in  the  midst  of  humble  chalets,  is  a 
wonderful  testimony  to  the  love  of  nature  and  the  passion 
for  its  wildest  and  most  inaccessible  scenes  which  distin- 
guishes our  modern  civilization.  It  is  an  equal  evidence 
of  the  superfluous  wealth  which  enriches  society  in  these  days 
of  steam  and  machine  labor.  Indeed,  the  amount  of  money 
everywhere  expended  on  pleasure  travel  is  one  of  the  extraor- 
dinary indications  of  the  times.  In  place  of  hunting  and 
fishing,  horse-racing  and  the  ring,  the  lovers  of  athletic  sports 
and  adventure  have  taken  to  climbing  snow  peaks  and  "  tak- 
ing down  "  the  pride  of  challenging  aiguilles  ;  while  the  tour 
of  Europe  and  a  summer  in  Switzerland  has  become  almost 
the  necessary  finish  of  a  young  lady's  education.  To  meet 
these  tastes,  a  prodigious  investment  in  vehicles,  steamers,  ho- 
tels, horses  and  mules,  guides,  etc.,  in  the  most  out-of-the-way 
places,  exhibits  itself  all  over  Europe,  and  specially  in  Switz- 
erland, where  every  fine  valley  has  its  costly  hotel,  every  com- 
manding point  of  view  its  place  of  shelter  and  refreshment. 
In  Chamouni,  high  and  cold,  the  valley  seems  to  hold  an  un- 
commonly handsome  and  interesting  native  population.  Ro- 
man Catholic,  and  secluded  for  eight  months  in  the  year, 
there  is  no  business  going  on  but  the  care  of  the  herds  and 
the  service  of  the  guests  who  annually  inundate  the  valley. 

Every  grown  man  under  fifty  that  one  meets  here  is  a 
guide.  A  tall,  broad-shouldered,  mild,  courteous,  interesting 
class  of  people  they  seem  to  be,  and  their  wives  and  children 
are  attractive,  and  have  taken  on  some  polish  from  their  in- 


The  Guides.  233 

tercourse  with  the  world.  So  important  to  the  population  is 
this  business  of  guiding  strangers,  that  it  is  reduced  to  very- 
rigid  law.  There  is  a  Bureau,  under  a  chief,  which  furnishes 
guides,  where  they  are  registered  and  numbered,  and  take 
service  in  turn  without  any  liberty  of  choice  on  their  own 
part  or  on  that  of  their  employers.  There  is  a  strict  tariff 
of  prices,  moderate  enough,  which  protects  strangers  from 
imposition.  But  simple  and  saving  of  trouble  as  the  arrange- 
ment is,  it  of  course  takes  away  from  that  life  of  all  occupa- 
tions, free  competition,  and  robs  the  guides  of  the  stimulus  to 
distinguish  themselves  by  intelligence,  enterprise  or  special 
caution.  As  a  consequence,  there  is  no  preparation  on  their 
part  to  answer  any  questions  which  inquisitive  travelers  de- 
sire so  much  to  put,  excepting  always  the  most  simple  ones. 
There  is  not  one  out  of  twenty  who  knows  what  an  English 
mile  is,  or  can  give  you  any  idea  of  distance  except  in  hours. 
No  man  is  competent  by  their  rules  to  become  a  guide  until 
he  is  twenty-three  years  old.  He  may  be  a  porteur  at  an 
earlier  period.  The  difficulties  of  ascending  Mont  Blanc, 
though  mainly  those  of  endurance  or  fatigue,  are  not,  I  judge, 
exaggerated.  Although  done  every  year  now  by  many  trav- 
elers, it  is  not  a  feat  which  loses  dignity  or  importance  by 
repetition.  The  names  of  all  those  who  accomplished  the 
ascent  before  1854  are  prominently  enrolled  and  paraded  in 
the  public  hotels  of  Chamouni.  The  statues  of  Balmat,  the 
guide  who  made  the  first  ascension,  in  August,  1786,  and  of 
Dr.  Saussure,  the  savant,  who  went  up  with  him  the  following 
year,  very  fitly  decorate  the  entrance  hall  of  our  Hotel  d'An- 
gleterre.  Balmat  lost  his  life  by  falling  from  a  precipice  forty 
years  afterward.  One  might  almost  think  such  a  death  and 
such  a  grave  the  most  becoming  a  man  whose  whole  life  had 
been  passed  among  the  Alpine  heights,  chasing  the  chamois, 
or  leaping  the  crevasses  of  the  glaciers  to  make  a  path  for 


234  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

others.  The  guides  themselves  seem  to  respect,  even 
more  than  novices,  the  dangers  of  the  higher  ascents. 
Tempting  as  money  is  (it  costs  about  five  hundred  fi-ancs 
to  each  person  ascending  Mont  Blanc,  of  which  the 
largest  part  goes  to  the  guides),  I  have  not  found  any 
eagerness  on  their  part  to  repeat  the  enterprise.  They  go, 
of  course,  as  a  sailor  goes  to  the  top-mast  in  a  hurricane ; 
but  I  doubt  whether  Jack  enjoys  it,  and  I  believe  the  guides 
are  honest  enough  to  confess  they  do  not  like  the  summit  of 
Mont  Blanc.  The  shoes,  stockings,  two  watches,  fifty-nine 
pieces  of  money,  belonging  to  three  guides  lost  in  a  crevasse 
forty  years  before,  were  found  with  their  remains,  a  foot  here, 
and  a  hand  there,  mangled  and  sundered  into  innumerable 
jDieces,  in  the  year  1863,  eight  thousand  feet  below  the  place 
where  they  were  lost,  brought  down  by  the  glacier  in  its  down- 
like flow — noiseless,  invisible,  but  irresistible  and  constant. 
Such  objects  do  not  increase  the  appetite  for  the  more  diffi- 
cult ascensions.  "  The  mountains  don't  interest  me  any 
longer,"  said  a  pretty  young  woman  who  waited  upon  us  at 
the  Schanzli,  the  most  commanding  prospect  of  the  Bernese 
Alps,  as  she  witnessed  our  enthusiasm  when  the  setting  sun 
had  set  the  whole  chain  into  a  flame  of  gorgeous  beauty. 
She  had  seen  too  much  of  them.  "  AH  the  world  comes  here 
to  see  this  great  mountain,"  said  to  us  another  peasant  girl — 
returning  from  the  fair  at  St.  Gervais  to  her  chalet  near  Les 
Ouches  at  the  opening  of  this  valley — "  and  I  wish  they 
would  carry  Mont  Blanc  away  with  them — a  great  snow- 
bank, spoiling  our  harvests  in  autumn,  and  carrying  away  our 
bridges  in  spring,  and  killing  our  husbands  and  brothers  who 
have  to  climb  it  for  you  strangers,  so  curious  about  such  a 
common  thing.  Every  body  wants  to  come  here,  and  I  only 
want  to  get  away.  I  am  saving  all  the  money  I  can  get  to 
go  to  Geneva,  and  perhaps  to  Paris."     The  woman  was  the 


Moonlight  on  the  Mountains.  235 

village  tailoress,  and  more  than  usually  intelligent ;  but  she 
only  better  expressed  what  is,  I  suspect,  a  general  feeling  in 
the  valley. 

Saturday  night,  the  moon  rose  over  the  Aiguilles  de  Char- 
moz  and  Lechaud  at  about  9  o'clock.  From  the  porch  of 
the  Catholic  church,  just  above  the  Hotel  Imperial,  we  watch- 
ed its  slow  coming  for  an  hour  before  it  appeared  above  the 
battlements  of  that  beauteous  ridge  of  mountain  rocks.  The 
sky  was  full  of  clouds,  tumbling  and  foaming  as  they  broke 
upon  these  barriers.  They  caught  the  upshoot  of  the  rising 
moon  and  reflected  it  in  magical  ways,  now  down  into  the 
valley,  now  up  to  the  Breven,  and  then  far  away  down  upon 
the  mists  that  were  slowly  steaming  up  from  the  Arve,  ten 
miles  westward.  The  pinnacles  of  the  Aiguilles  were  often 
perfectly  separated  from  their  bases  by  a  sea  of  clouds,  which, 
floating  at  a  level,  gave  them  the  appearance  of  a  castellated 
city  in  the  sky,  the  tower  in  ruins,  but  lighted  from  behind 
with  a  glorious  brightness  which  was  full  of  enchantment. 
The  moon  threatened  for  a  whole  hour  to  break  through  now 
one  and  then  another  of  the  deep  depressions  in  this  lofty 
ridge.  She  cheated  our  expectations  and  baffled  our  long- 
ings, as  if  we  had  been  lovers  and  she  at  her  old  tricks  of 
coy  evasion.  But  while  our  expectation  grew  to  almost  pain- 
ful impatience,  what  magical  transformations  were  going  on 
in  the  sky,  shifting  its  forms  and  colors  from  one  spell  to 
another  until  the  heaven  seemed  to  have  won  us  away  from 
the  earth  and  to  have  become  our  real  residence  !  At  last, 
struggling  like  any  common  climber  over  a  picketed  wall,  one 
limb  of  the  moon  caught  our  side  of  the  ledge,  and  soon  her 
whole  fair  figure  stood  on  the  mountain  gap,  looking  down  at 
us  as  if  she  had  been  at  willful  play  and  was  now  enjoying 
her  long  sport  with  our  desiring  eyes. 

Yesterday,  Monday,  we  visited  the  Fall  "  Du  Dard,"  near 


236  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  Glacier  du  Bossons,  and  then  by  a  climb  of  an  hour 
reached  the  vast  moraine  of  that  vast  and  beautiful  glacier, 
at  about  a  mile  above  its  foot  in  the  valley  of  Chamouni, 
where  we  crossed  it  by  an  hour's  hard  work,  and,  coming 
down  the  opposite  side,  walked  home — an  excursion  of  three 
and  a  half  hours.     The  rain  of  the  previous  night  had  wash- 
ed this  always  specially  pure  and  transparent  glacier  until  it 
shone  with  an  extraordinary  splendor,  and  glistened  with  a 
polish  altogether  more  beautiful  than  safe  and  convenient. 
Indeed,  with  only  a  small  boy  for  a  guide  (a  very  imprudent 
provision  for  inexperienced  travelers  on  the  ice,  like  our- 
selves), my  son  and  I  found  ourselves  very  much  embarrassed 
either  to  proceed  or  return  at  several  points  in  our  transit. 
Comparatively  even  as  the  surface  is,  looked  at  from  the 
shore,  we  found  it  heaved  into  furrows  and  broken  with  deep 
crevasses,  and  running  with  small  streams,  slippery  to  a  peril- 
ous degree,  and  with  so  few  stones  upon  its  surface  that  no 
good  hold  for  the  feet  was  to  be  had.     Then  there  was  no 
path  whatever  indicated,  and  a  very  uncomfortable  sense  of 
possible  obstacles  between  us  and  the  opposite  shore  kept  our 
spirits  at  a  level  decidedly  below  the  jubilant.     By  scram- 
bling on  all  fours,  or  sitting  down  in   the  water  at  glacier 
temperature  and  so  sliding  down  some  declivities,  or  by  cut- 
ting steps  with  the  points  of  our  batons,  we  succeeded  in 
picking  our  way,  without   breakage  of  limb,  to  the   other 
side,  having  had  quite  enough  of  glaciers  —  unattended  by 
guides  and  hatchet-bearers  —  to  satisfy  our  present  ambi- 
tion.    The  day  was  an  exceptional  one,  and  the  state  of 
the  glacier  peculiar  —  perhaps   the  place  where  we  cross- 
ed  unusual.     With  properly  armed  boots  (with  iron  clogs) 
or  with  stout  woolen  socks,  and  a  proper  guide,  there  need 
be  no  serious  difficulty  in  crossing  the  Bossons,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  familiar  of  all  the  glaciers,  and  probably 


The  Glaciers. 


237 


to  experts  hardly  presents  difficulties  enough  to  be  inter- 
esting. 

The  four  glaciers  of  Taconey,  Des  Bossons,  Du  Bois  (foot 
of  the  Mer  de  Glace)  and  of  D'Argentiere  give  their  most 
distinguishing  feature  to  this  valley.  The  village  of  Cha- 
mouni  is  situated  between  the  glaciers  "  Des  Bossons  "  and 
"  Du  Bois  " — which  put  a  great  silver  fringe  upon  its  prospect, 
up  and  down.  Mighty  ruffs  of  ice,  they  glisten  like  dia- 
monds in  the  sun,  and  in  the  gloom  they  seem  to  emit  a 
light  of  their  own,  which  is  in  its  effect  like  the  glow  of  phos- 
phorescent water.  As  you  approach  them,  they  lie  in  their 
steeply-inclined  valleys  great  compact  masses  of  ice,  stones 
and  earth,  made  up  into  a  consistency  of  frozen  mortar, 
which,  under  great  pressure,  would  flow  and  take  on  some- 
what regular  lines  of  direction.  The  weight  behind  press- 
ing hardest,  deepest  down,  cracks  the  surface  of  the  glacier 
at  certain  places  into  splinters  which  are  finger-shaped  and 
thickly  crowded.  White  beneath,  they  are  smouched  atop, 
and  not  beautiful  on  a  near  view.  But  a  few  feet  beneath 
the  surface,  and  especially  in  the  Boss'ons,  the  ice  is  of  a  ciys- 
tal  clearness,  and  as  solid  as  though  it  had  never  moved  and 
never  intended  to.  The  smaller  crevasses,  ten  or  fifteen  feet 
long  and  as  many  deep,  and  a  foot  or  two  wide,  are  usually 
nearly  full  of  water,  and  while  very  dangerous  to  careless 
walkers,  are  very  beautiful  to  look  upon.  I  have  not  yet 
seen  any  of  those  vast  fissures  of  which  I  have  often  read, 
which  reach  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  glacier  and  yawn  ten 
or  fifteen  feet  in  width,  and  which  have  become  the  tombs 
of  so  many  unfortunate  explorers.  The  force  of  these 
mighty  ice  rivers,  which  ebb  and  flow,  shrink  and  expand,  is  ■ 
such  as  to  grind  the  surface  they  cover,  to  tear  the  banks 
that  hold  them,  and  to  pile  up  as  they  melt  on  the  surface, 
and  fling  out  their  mighty  arms  slowly  like  a  swimmer,  a 


238  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

great  moraine  at  their  sides,  which  rises  a  hundred  feet 
above  their  bed,  for  a  half-mile  above  their  foot,  and  covers 
with  a  great  delta  of  stones  and  earth  their  mouth.  The 
ice  at  the  foot  of  the  Bossons  seems  about  a  hundred  feet 
thick.  A  strong  river  flows  from  the  foot,  which  never 
wholly  ceasffs.  The  water  comes  from  the  surface  of  the 
glacier,  trickling  through  the  crevasses  and  uniting  at  the 
foot  to  form  a  torrent,  which  is  seldom  clear,  though  in  many 
of  the  rills  which  are  found  on  the  surface,  and  in  the  crev- 
asses, the  water  is  exquisitely  pure. 

Tuesday,  September  16. 

It  rained  all  night  and  is  raining  still.  A  deep  and  ob- 
stinate mist  envelopes  all  the  near  and  all  the  distant  mount- 
ains. For  the  time,  Chamouni  is  a  plain.  It  is  the  only 
chance  the  natives  have  for  knowing  how  it  must  seem  to 
live  away  from  the  mountains.  A  hundred  guides  are  chaff- 
ing each  other  in  the  little  square  before  the  Imperial  Hotel, 
giving  guesses  to  anxious  travelers  about  the  prospect  of 
fair  weather,  and  regretting  their  own  lost  day,  which  doubt- 
less the  mules  alone,  of  all  creatures  except  the  waiters,  are 
really  enjoying.  The  bustle  of  caravans  packing  off  for  the 
Montanvert,  the  Flegere  and  for  Martigny  ;  of  voitures  gay 
with  newly-arriving  travelers,  or  departing  visitors,  each  with 
precious  alpenstock  in  hand,  duly  labeled  with  the  names 
of  ascended  passes  or  places  of  interest  visited  ;  the  packing 
of  mules  with  shawls  and  overcoats,  all  this  which  yesterday 
made  Chamouni  so  gay,  is  now  suspended.  A  few  guides 
are  flinging  through  the  air  heavy  wooden  balls  at  nine-pins, 
in  an  alley  without  floor,  and  at  double  the  usual  distance. 
I  am  sorry  to  see  them  exchange  their  hard-earned  francs, 
as  they  win  or  lose  on  their  throw.  The  village  is  still  as  a 
New  England  Sabbath.     One  man  seizes  his  staff  and  is  off 


Rainy  Days.  239 

to  the  source  of  the  Arveron,  four  or  five  miles,  saying  encour- 
agingly as  he  leaves,  "  If  you  stop  for  rain  this  month  in 
Switzerland,  you  might  as  well  '  put  up '  for  the  season,  and 
done  with  it."  It  is  a  dripping,  melancholy  day.  The  cows 
and  the  goats  hung  their  tails  very  despondingly  as  they  filed 
along  the  narrow  streets  last  evening  and  this  morning. 
Every  thing  hangs  down — mist,  rain,  the  faces  of  the  landlords, 
guests,  guides — every  thing  but  the  mules'  ears,  which  I  doubt 
not  would  be  found  in  a  very  cheerful  perpendicular  !  We 
had  such  good  weather  in  the  Tyrol,  at  Lucerne,  Interlach- 
en,  Berne,  on  Lake  Leman,  that  it  would  be  ungrateful  to 
complain  of  a  couple  of  days'  rain  now  ;  but  rain  at  Chamou- 
ni  is  very  unpopular,  and,  not  to  speak  improperly,  inconven- 
ient— and  really,  it  may  be  bad  for  the  crops  and  quite  un- 
christian— but  we  do  all  very  anxiously  wish  it  would  clear 
up.  Just  after  breakfast,  Mont  Blanc  put  his  nose  out  very 
plainly,  and  took  a  look  at  the  weather,  and  then  went  to 
bed  again,  drawing  the  curtains  with  fearful  closeness,  as  if 
he  foresaw  at  last  twenty-four  hours  more  of  freedom  from  all 
interruptions  of  his  peace  from  visitors  and  gazers.  My  sol- 
ace in  such  weather  Is  letter-writing.  Reading  will  not  dis- 
pel the  melancholy  of  such  disappointing  weather.  It  is  not 
absorbing  enough  ;  but  with  a  fair  sheet  of  paper  and  a  pen 
and  ink,  I  can  always  defy  blue-devils,  without  shying  the  ink- 
stand at  Satan,  after  Luther's  example.  Bad  spirits  are  very 
much  in  fear  of  ink  —  especially  printing-ink.  I  find  even 
the  poor  fluid  furnished  us  in  hotels,  under  the  name  of 
"  Tintre  "  or  "  Encre,"  quite  efficacious  enough  to  banish  all 
the  imps  that  haunt  me. 

Wednesday. 

The  bad  weather  has  its  compensations.  I  could  not 
have  believed  that  mist  could  be  so  beautiful  and  make 
such  a  variety  of  landscapes,  if  I  had  not  watched  its  pranks 


240  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

yesterday  in  this  valley,  flying  from  side  to  side,  rolling 
itself  now  in  winrows  and  sleeping  on  the  ledges,  and  then 
heaping  itself  in  hay-cocks  and  spotting  the  hill-sides  ;  now 
mounting  like  smoke,  until  the  woods  seemed  all  afire,  and 
then  scudding  in  level  flows  like  rivers  of  wool.  The  whole 
Breven  would  be  bare  one  moment,  and  almost  before  the 
head  was  turned,  lost  again  in  impenetrable  vapor.  The  sun, 
which  never  appeared,  was  yet  near  enough  to  give  the  thin 
mist  on  the  mountains  the  appearance  of  chased  silver,  while 
the  bare  places  stood  out  like  relief  in  the  same  metal. 
Every  now  and  then  a  mountain  peak,  absolutely  free  from 
clouds,  stood  out  for  a  few  hundred  feet,  resting  on  the  mist, 
and  looking,  we  observed,  much  higher  in  that  condition, 
than  when  "  fit  body "  was  joined  to  "  fit  head."  Mont 
Blanc  woke  up  and  turned  over,  and  went  to  bed  again  a 
half-dozen  times  in  the  course  of  the  day.  Meanwhile  it 
kept  up  at  intervals  a  solid  pour.  In  the  afternoon,  we 
footed  it  in  the  rain  three  miles  down  to  the  foot  of  the 
Glacier  de  Tour.  The  air  was  chilling,  the  ground  muddy, 
and  the  pastures  soaked,  but  in  every  field,  where  as  many 
as  two  cows  were  feeding,  stood  one  old  woman,  sometimes 
with  but  usually  without  an  umbrella,  "  minding  "  the  cattle. 
One  philosophic  old  soul,  covered  with  a  stout  straw  hat,  two 
feet  over,  sat  in  the  middle  of  the  field,  with  a  goat-skin 
on  her  lap,  calmly  knitting,  with  her  eyes  on  the  cows — the 
rain  pouring  and  the  cold  chilling  our  flesh — but  with  as  much 
serenity  and  as  little  seeming  consciousness  of  any  hardship 
in  the  position  as  if  she  had  been  on  a  %zXm.  fauteiiil  in  a  par- 
lor spread  with  Turkey  carpets.  One  young  woman,  in  a 
coat  of  furred  goat-skins,  looking  like  an  Esquimau,  gave  us 
a  sample  of  the  winter-costume  of  this  region.  These  watch- 
ers of  the  cows  appear  to  serve  the  humble  purpose  of  fences. 
The  most  economical  form  of  fence  discovered  in  Switzerland, 


Born  with  Teeth.  241 

appears  to  be  a  watchful  old.  woman  past  other  work.  I 
could  not  help  thinking  that  our  New  England  grandmothers, 
in  their  warm  corners,  had  a  somewhat  more  enviable  lot. 
We  passed  through  two  poor  villages.  The  women  were 
busy  watching  the  precious  heaps  of  manure,  seeing  that  the 
rain  did  not  run  away  with  its  juices — packing  its  sides,  and 
working  it  as  only  the  Swiss  know  how.  Children  and  some 
men  were  collecting  carefully  the  droppings  in  the  road. 
They  manage  to  get  four  small  crops  of  grass  in  these  cold 
valleys,  by  careful  culture.  The  moment  one  crop  is  sheared 
— for  it  is  treated  more  like  wool  than  grass — the  field  is  im- 
mediately sprinkled  with  liquid  manure.  This  is  repeated 
after  every  cutting,  except  the  last,  which  is  followed  by  a 
thorough  dressing. 

The  foot  of  the  Glacier  de  Tour  is  approached  through  a 
ghastly  moraine,  in  which  some  tremendous  blocks  of  stone 
exhibit  the  carrying  powers  of  the  ice,  the  melancholy  hills 
of  ground  stone  which,  from  the  sides  of  this  frightful  river, 
lift  themselves  one  or  two  hundred  feet,  spreading  like  the 
sides  of  an  open  fan,  and  leaving  a  broad  channel  for  the 
Arveron  which  flows  from  the  glacier's  foot.  The  ice  is  blue, 
but  dirty ;  in  thickness  at  the  foot,  perhaps  a  hundred  feet ; 
but  not  as  handsome  as  the  foot  either  of  the  Bossons  or  the 
Grindelwald.  The  ice  grotto  is  not  half  the  size,  and  has  lit- 
tle of  the  purity  of  the  grotto  at  Grindelwald.  The  wonder- 
ful rush  of  the  river  from  the  jaws  of  this  glacier  is  very  im- 
pressive. It  seems  to  spring  to  full  life  in  a  second,  and 
have  all  the  energy  and  rage  of  a  torrent  at  its  birth — like 
Richard  III.,  "born  with  teeth."  The  fact  is,  like  a  good 
many  other  seething  things,  the  river  has  run  several  miles 
under  the  ice  before  it  appears.  Things  never  begin  strongly. 
The  weather  still  continuing  misty  or  rainy,  we  ascended 
the  Montanvert,  with  a  party  of  at  least  twenty,  who  like  our- 

L 


242  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

selves  had  been  waiting  for  a  more  favorable  sky,  but  had 
despaired  of  fine  weather.  The  sturdy  mules,  without  a  single 
stumble,  carried  us  up  the  muddy  steep  in  a  couple  of  hours. 
Some  fine  views  of  the  valley  and  its  half-dozen  hamlets 
opened  through  the  clouds,  which  for  the  most  part  floored 
the  valley  with  a  soft  fleecy  carpet,  but  now  and  then  sudden- 
ly opened.  The  Aiguille  de  Dru,  as  we  approached  the 
small  inn  at  the  summit,  welcomed  us  with  its  military  salute, 
presenting  its  pike  with  erectest  precision,  and  then  the  sub- 
lime semi-circle  of  Aiguilles  about  the  Mer  de  Glace  stood  in 
soldierly  silence  and  order,  raising  their  mighty  bayonets 
around  the  awful  field  of  ice.  The  majesty  of  the  prospect 
can  not  be  exaggerated.  No  familiarity  with  it  can  take  off" 
the  edge  of  its  sublimity.  If  Mont  Blanc,  invisible,  but 
present  in  its  tremendous  glacier,  had  been  the  Northern 
Pole,  and  we,  voyagers  with  Parry,  or  Kane,  or  Dr.  Hayes, 
tumbling  about  amid  the  floes  of  polar  ice,  to  find  a  nearer 
approach  to  the  axis  of  the  world,  we  could  hardly  have  felt 
more  the  strangeness  and  awfulness,  the  desolation  and 
grandeur  of  the  scene.  The  temptation  to  go  up  to  the  "  Jar- 
din,"  or  over  the  "  Col  du  Geant,"  was  immense  ;  but  over- 
borne by  the  consciousness  of  inadequate  vigor  for  the  ex- 
posure and  fatigue  at  this  uncertain  season,  we  clambered 
down  the  vast  moraine,  whose  deceptive  height  aids  in  cor- 
recting, as  one  passes  down  its  long  side,  the  imperfect  tes- 
timony of  the  senses  to  the  unaccustomed  magnitudes  of  this 
colossal  region.  The  blue  crevasses  opened  their  treacher- 
ous eyes  and  smiled  an  icy  welcome,  as  we  stepped  on  to  the 
Mer  de  Glace.  The  rain  had  washed  the  surface  and  made 
it  too  slippery  for  comfort,  and  we  were  too  much  occupied 
in  keeping  the  perpendicular  and  watching  for  the  safety  of 
the  ladies,  to  enjoy  any  thing  except  the  mere  excitement  of 
the  adventure.     The  last  third  of  the  way  was  more  or  less 


Frozen  Storms.  243 

difficult,  the  ill-marked  path  leading  round  many  a  deep 
crevasse,  into  which  stones  weighing  a  ton  or  more  had  fallen 
and  hung  twenty  feet  below,  between  the  sides  of  the  icy 
vise.  A  misstep  would,  in  many  places,  prove  fatal.  It  is 
surprising,  considering  what  multitudes  cross  at  this  place 
every  summer-day,  that  some  serious  accidents  have  not  oc- 
curred. It  is  not  until  a  mile  down  the  opposite  side  that 
the  glacier  is  seen  to  best  advantage.  Here  the  vast 
frozen  Niagara  is  visible  at  the  sharpest  part  of  its  curve, 
where  the  current  is  most  broken  and  splintered.  At  first  it 
hangs  over  in  great  waves,  mightier  than  any  in  a  stormy  sea, 
and  then  it  cracks  into  vast  pinnacles,  and  stands  bristling  like 
the  back  of  some  mythic  boar,  leagues  long,  whom  Titans  had 
hunted  into  rage.  The  glacier  appears  swollen  and  greatly 
rounded  at  the  middle.  It  is  as  crimpled  and  curled  as  a  ruff 
in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time.  Now  and  then  the  snap  of  some 
new  crevasse  might  be  heard,  and  once  a  heavy  block  fell  from 
the  crest  of  one  of  the  waves  and  gave  us  a  lively  sense  of 
the  actual  life  of  this  icy  opossum.  On  the  ice  the  feeling  of 
a  possible  movement  adds  to  the  terror  of  those  who  possess 
t}Tannical  imaginations.  We  hardly  regretted  that  the  clouds, 
by  excluding  distant  views,  shut  us  up  so  wholly  to  the  pres- 
ence and  influence  of  the  glacier.  Certainly  few  objects  in 
Nature  are  so  beautiful  and  terrible  at  once.  Frozen  storms, 
suspended  avalanches,  arrested  cataracts,  glittering  and  jew- 
eled, yet  sullen  and  implacable — fixed,  yet  in  ceaseless  mo- 
tion— imperishable,  but  in  everlasting  decay — sleeping,  but 
grinding  their  teeth  in  silent  rage  and  foaming  at  the  mouth 
— these  enormous  creatures,  infinite  elemental  forces  half- 
organized  and  subdued,  fill  the  soul  with  a  fascinating  terror. 
The  ''Mauvais  Pas,''  a  path  cut  in  the  face  of  the  precipice, 
was,  in  spite  of  its  rocky  steps  and  its  iron  balustrade  (on  the 
'ivrong  side  of  the  traveler),  altogether  too  long  for  the  com- 


244 


The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


fort  of  persons  troubled  with  sensitive  nerves.  It  is  fully  en- 
titled to  its  ominous  name.  We  passed  some  beautiful  cata- 
racts on  the  road  down,  one  of  them,  which  flows  in  a  full 
stream  over  the  back  of  a  rounded  precipice,  of  a  peculiar 
beauty.  Some  welcome  refreshment  at  "  The  Chapeau," 
which  might  as  appropriately  be  styled  the  boot,  or  any  other 
article  of  human  attire,  prepared  us  for  the  sharp  descent  to 
the  source  of  the  Arveron. 


XXII. 

VALLEY    OF     THE     RHONE. 

Switzerland,  September  19,  1867. 

"p\ESPAIRING   of  any  view  from   the   Flegere,  we   left 
Chamouni,  with  a  rising   barometer   and  some  prom- 
ise of  better  weather,  at  noon,  Sept.  i8,  for  the  Col  de  Bahne, 
taking  a  carriage  as  far  as  Angentiere,  and  there  mounting 
mules  for  the  ascent.     The  fine  glacier  of  Angentiere  hangs 
over  the  village  in  a  very  threatening  aspect,  and  looks  as  if 
it  might   at   any  time  advance   and  sweep  it   away.     The 
church  here  has  been  twice  destroyed  by  the  violence  of  the 
Arve.     The  valley  narrows   and  grows  bleak  and  desolate 
from  this  point,  and  the  wretched  hamlet  of  La  Tour,  the 
highest  village  in  Savoy,  looks  hardly  habitable.     It  has  a 
lofty  glacier  for  its  cold  neighbor,  and  all  the  diligence  of  its 
small  population  barely  suffices  to  raise  a  few  starved  crops 
of  grain  which  the  people  were  busy  harvesting  as  we  pass- 
ed by.     A  dark,  crumbling   cliff  of  shale  furnishes  a  fine 
debris  with  which  the  peasants  sprinkle  the  soil  in  the  spring, 
thus  absorbing  the  rays  of  the  sun  and  melting  off  a  few 
weeks  sooner  the  snow.     Last  winter  1 5  feet  of  snow  fell  in 
this  place,  and  for  seven  or  eight  months  out  of  the  twelve 
the  ground  is  covered  with  it.     The  mule-track  here  ascends 
rapidly,  and  soon  carried  us  into  the  clouds,  where  a  smart 
rain  made  every  wrap  we  could  muster  necessary  to  save  us 
from  being  drenched  to  the  skin. 

Misery  loves  company,  and  we  soon  met  a  caravan  of  eight 


246  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

mules  carrying  a  very  disgusted  party  down  from  the  summit 
we  were  seeking.  They  had  seen  nothing,  and  took  some 
excusable  comfort  in  thinking  that  we  should  not  be  more 
fortunate  than  themselves,  a  fate  to  which  we  were  already 
resigned.  The  rain  made  the  path  both  muddy  and  slippery, 
and  every  now  and  then  the  mules  gave  us  a  fearful  lesson 
how  far  they  could  flounder  without  coming  down.  We 
reached  the  "  Hotel  Suisse,"  a  decent  cabin  at  the  crown  of 
the  Col,  by  ^h  p.m.,  in  the  midst  of  a  mist  that  made  a  twilight 
of  that  early  hour.  Three  young  Englishmen,  foot-sore  from 
their  first  adventure  in  mountain-climbing,  were  the  sole  guests 
at  the  summit,  and  were  deploring  their  inevitable  loss  of  all 
that  had  brought  them  so  high.  But  almost  in  a  moment, 
at  5  P.M.,  the  mist  broke  away  and  dispersed,  revealing  the 
valley  of  the  Rhone  on  one  side  and  of  Chamouni  on  the 
other,  in  nearly  perfect  clearness.  Then  opened  for  a  half- 
hour  the  whole  sublime  view  of  Mont  Blanc,  with  the  Ai- 
guilles about  the  Mer  de  Glace,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the 
valley  the  solid  and  regular  peaks  of  the  Aiguilles  Rouges, 
with  countless  other  mountains,  all  circling  round  the  deep 
valley  of  the  Arve,  which  seemed  scooped  out  to  the  very 
centre  of  the  earth,  while  the  snow  peaks  gained  immensely 
in  apparent  elevation  by  the  height  from  jvhich  we  surveyed 
them — 6000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  It  was  the  first  pros- 
pect from  a  great  height  which  has  not  seemed  to  me  to  lose 
in  general  obscurity  of  all  details  what  it  gained  in  sweep 
and  relation  of  parts.  If  I  should  say  that  it  was  the  most 
striking  view  I  have  ever  yet  seen,  I  should  imperfectly  con- 
vey my  sense  of  its  wonderful  beauty  and  power.  It  has  been 
celebrated  for  at  least  thirty  years,  but  has  not  yet  had  its 
due  merit  assigned  it,  at  least  in  my  guide-books.  The  mist 
closed  in  a  half-hour  later  as  suddenly  as  it  had  scattered, 
but  such  good  fortune  made  us  bold,  and  we  climbed  the 


Tide  of  Mist.  247 

summit  north  of  the  Col — a  rise  of  300  feet  perhaps — to  take 
our  chance  of  another  clearing  at  sunset.  After  waiting  in 
the  thickest  mist  for  a  half-hour,  the  clouds  again  opened, 
and  gave  us  a  still  finer  view  of  the  prospect  in  both  direc- 
tions. But  the  exhibition  lasted  scarce  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
although  the  regathering  of  the  clouds  was  as  interesting  as 
their  temporary  lift  had  been.  A  great  bank  of  mist  came 
swelling  up  the  hill  like  an  incoming  tide.  The  clouds  ad- 
vanced like  a  park  of  flying  artillery  lost  in  its  own  smoke, 
but  intent  on  taking  a  hill  which  lay  in  its  track.  Swift  and 
irresistible,  the  smoke  of  its  invisible  cannons  swept  up  the 
slope,  and  it  seemed  as  if  every  moment  horses  and  men 
would  appear  through  the  gloom.  After  this  play  at  storm- 
ing practice,  we  had  another  game  from  the  clouds.  One 
valley,  full  to  overflowing  of  mist,  emptied  itself  over  the  Col 
de  Balme,  just  below  us,  into  the  valley  of  the  Trient,  with 
just  as  much  precision  as  ever  a  pail  of  water  was  poured 
into  a  tub:  The  current  never  broke  until  the  reservoir  was 
exhausted  and  the  mist  sunk  into  the  receiving  valley  on  the 
other  side.  The  tinkling  of  the  bells  from  a  herd  of  over  two 
hundred  cows,  a  m.ile  below  us,  made  a  regular  tattoo,  as  the 
whirr  of  the  commingling  sounds  reached  our  ears.  It  was 
a  wholly  new  effect,  and  very  charming.  The  sun  set  to  the 
sound  of  this  music,  and  we  came  down  to  our  inn  and  our 
supper,  thoroughly  in  love  with  the  Col  de  Balme  and  im- 
patient for  the  dawn  of  to-morrow  morning,  when  we  have 
the  best  hopes  of  a  clear  sky. 

September  20,  6  a.m. 

The  sky  is  clear  overhead.  The  rising  sun,  invisible  to 
us,  gilds  the  clouds  on  the  mountains.  Mont  Blanc  is  "  no- 
where." The  "  Aiguilles  ranges  "  are  like  ocean  rocks  beaten 
by  a  tremendous  surge.  "  Le  Dru"  and  the  "  Buet"  are  visi- 
ble from  time  to  time.     Occasional  glimpses  of  the  valley  of 


248  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Chamouni  are  presented  as  the  clouds  open  below.  The 
Rhone  valley  is  buried  in  fog.  We  shall  wait  an  hour  or 
two  to  give  the  prospect  a  fair  chance  to  redeem  its  reputa- 
tion, and  then  descend.  We  have  been  made  as  comfortable 
in  this  little  inn  as  good  and  well-cooked  food  and  clean 
beds  could  make  us,  when  offset  by  an  odious  smell  of  the 
mule-stable  in  the  cellar.  The  bread,  butter,  eggs  and  tea 
have  been  excellent.  The  family  interest  us  by  their  intelli- 
gence and  kindness.  A  child  of  two  and  a  half  years  old 
toddles  round  among  the  rocks  and  irregularities  of  the  sum- 
mit, with  the  self-possession  of  a  woman.  Her  cheeks  are 
bursting  with  health,  and  she  is  almost  as  broad  as  long. 
Her  chief  amusement  appears  to  be  soaking  her  shoes  in  the 
various  "cow-stockings"  (alias  puddles),  although  the  ther- 
mometer is  at  fifty  degrees.  She  came  up  to  my  daughter, 
who  was  looking  through  an  opera-glass,  and  said,  "  Je  vou- 
drais  voir  Mont  Bla?tc."  Permitted  to  look  through  the 
glass,  she  pretended  to  see  the  mountain,  which  was  invisible, 
and  putting  out  her  hand  for  a  penny,  went  away  rich  and 
happy. 

Martigny,  8  P.M. 

Some  charming  views  came  out  after  breakfast  this 
morning,  but  Mont  Blanc  witheld  his  summit,  although  the 
Dome  de  Goute  was  bare.  "  High  on  a  throne  of  royal 
state  he  sat"  —  and  Satan  himself  could  not  have  been 
more  malicious  in  deceiving  the  expectations  of  his  vic- 
tims, than  this  monarch  of  mountains  was  in  hiding  his  face 
from  his  friends.  The  winds  seemed  to  drive  every  thing 
before  them  except  his  veil.  That  was  closer  than  a  nun's 
— and  would  not  lift  a  corner.  So,  after  giving  his  Majesty 
two  hours  to  repent  of  his  obstinacy,  we  left  him  to  his 
moody  fit,  and  descended  to  the  valley  of  the  Trient,  by  two 
hours  of  hard  work  for  knees  not  accustomed  to  such  long 


Fall  of  Folly.  249 

stairs.  The  views  from  the  cUffs  that  surround  this  deep  valley 
are  on  all  sides  very  grand — whether  from  the  "Forclaz" 
on  the  opposite  side,  which  we  reached  later  in  the  day,  or 
from  the  side  of  the  Col  de  Balme.  An  impressive  sight  of 
the  Glacier  of  the  Trient  is  got  here.  It  is  said  to  be  next 
in  magnitude  to  the  Mer  de  Glace.  Here  Geneva  gets  its 
supply  of  ice — by  a  road  from  the  glacier  to  Martigny,  whose 
excellence  we  experienced  on  our  way  down.  There  is  real- 
ly no  reason  why  wagons  should  not  run  from  Martigny  to 
the  inn  at  the  Tete  Noir,  saving  full  half  the  arduous  mule- 
ride  between  Chamouni  and  Martigny,  which  ladies  find  so 
fatiguing.  Few  country  roads  in  New  England  are  as  good, 
and  a  farmer's  one-horse  wagon  would  run  over  the  whole 
distance  irr  two  hours.  But  it  seems  the  policy  of  this  region 
to  maintain  these  mule-rides  as  a  source  of  profit  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country  ;  and  so  ladies  and  invalids  will,  I  sup- 
pose, for  some  years  yet  be  compelled  to  cross  this  most  in- 
teresting piece  of  country  wholly  on  jolting  beasts,  out  of 
whom  neither  whip  nor  spur  can  get  more  than  two  and  a 
half  miles  an  hour.  We  made  a  detour  of  an  hour,  from  the 
little  village  of  Trient  to  the  inn  on  the  Tete  Noir,  and  ex- 
plored the  road  for  a  half-mile  each  side  of  the  Turmel,  to 
recall  the  recollection  of  the  dizzy  precipices  which  twenty 
years  ago  had  curdled  our  younger  blood.  They  are  very 
striking  still,  but  after  the  Via  Mala  and  the  Finstermiinz, 
hardly  worth  going  much  out  of  the  way  to  see.  Precipices 
are  as  plenty  as  water-falls  in  Switzerland,  and  there  is  not  a 
pass  through  the  Alps  that  does  not  present  both  in  perfec- 
tion. One  cataract  was  advertised  at  Argentiere  thus  :  "  La 
cascade  de — Folly  facile  promenade."  But  I  had  seen  it  so 
often  in  all  countries — and  it  had  always  appeared  a  prome- 
nade more  facile  than  I  approved,  and  so  I  did  not  visit  this 
particular  Fall  of  Folly.     We  found  the  descent  from   the 

L  2 


250  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Forclaz  to  Martigny,  down  a  hill  six  miles  long,  full  of  inter- 
est from  the  continual  views  presented  of  the  valley  of  the 
Rhone.  Broad,  and  level  as  a  floor,  with  the  bright  Rhone 
meandering  through  it,  and  villages  and  roads  conspicuously 
marked  upon  its  surface,  it  was  in  such  vivid  contrast  with 
all  the  broken  and  precipitous  country  immediately  about  us, 
as  to  derive  a  great  charm  from  the  comparison.  The  slow 
descent,  at  every  turn  in  the  circuitous  road  brought  us  into 
closer  views  of  the  plain  ;  but  it  seemed  almost  farther  and 
farther  off  as  we  approached  it,  and  were  in  some  degree 
able  to  realize  our  height  above  it.  Long  after  Martigny 
seemed  within  stone's  throw,  it  took  us  an  hour  to  reach  it. 
Our  two  days'  ride  appeared  a  week  as  we  looked  back  to 
Chamouni,  which  was  indefinitely  removed,  although  it  was 
less  than  forty-eight  hours  since  we  had  left  it.  The  bless- 
ings of  civilization  appeared  in  the  cleanly,  sweet-smelling 
inn  we  reached  here  at  6^  this  evening,  and  we  improved 
them  with  sharp  appetite. 

The  next  morning  we  took  the  cars  for  Sion,  about  an 
hour's  ride  up  the  valley — a  picturesque  town,  with  two  cas- 
tellated pinnacles  on  either  side  of  it.  It  was  market-day, 
and  the  streets  of  this  little  depot  of  the  trade  of  the  misera- 
ble Valais  were  crowded  with  a  wretched-looking  population 
overwhelmed  with  poverty  and  disease.  Almost  every  third 
person  w^as  afflicted  with  goitre  or  cretinism.  We  entered 
the  church  and  found  as  many  as  ten  ecclesiastics  sitting  in 
the  choir  droning  out  a  liturgical  service,  to  which  there  was 
not  a  single  listener  except  ourselves.  They  were  duly 
dressed  in  surplice,  and  looked  fat  and  sleepy.  They  had 
the  service  by  heart,  and  used  no  books  as  they  rapidly  re- 
cited the  prescribed  prayers.  The  empty  church  echoed  loud- 
ly their  buzzing  voices,  as  they  flung  from  side  to  side  their 
task-work  of  evening  prayer.    At  the  end  they  filed  out,  from 


An  Earthquake.  251 

the  eldest  to  the  youngest,  making  very  formal  courtesies  at  two 
altars,  and  retreated  into  a  neighboring  monastery.    The  town 
is  full  of  the  remains  of  former  ecclesiastical  importance. 
The  Rhone  valley  must,  two  centuries  ago,  have  had  a  better 
climate  and  a  more  fertile  soil  than  now.     At  present,  it  is 
the  opprobrium  of  Switzerland,  barren,  bleak,  devastated  by 
the  Rhone,  full  of  miasmatic  disease,  and  crowded  with  a 
hopeless  and  helpless  population.     The  landscape  is  itself 
leprous — a   spotted,  livid   and   repulsive    scene — with   here 
and  there  a  fertile  interval  or  mountain  slope,  to  make  only 
more   melancholy  the  general  view.     It   is    fit  only  to  be 
looked  down  upon  from  a  great  height,  and  then  it  is  very 
grand.     The  valley  is  fenced  in  between  mountain  ranges  of 
moderate  height,  too  straight  in  their  trend  to  be  interesting, 
and  too  equal  in  height  to  allow  of  intermediate  views.     The 
whole  road  from  Martigny  to  Visp  is  monotonous.     We  drove 
up  from  Sion  to  Visp  in  six  hours.     Visp,  another  wretched 
Valais  town,  with  some  relics  of  ancient  importance,  in  the 
shape  of  large  houses,  formerly  occupied  by  the  old  Swiss  no- 
bles, but  now  abandoned  to  the  poor,  was,  about  twelve  years 
ago,  the  centre  of  an  earthquake,  which  lasted  at  intervals 
for  a  year,  and  shook  the  country  for  thirty  miles   about. 
Every  stone  house  in  the  city  and  neighborhood  bore  evident 
marks  of  its  destructive  work.     Great  cracks  in  the  walls  of 
the  churches  and  habitations  and  barns,  filled  with  fresh  mor- 
tar sometimes,  indicated  the  universality  of  the  misfortune. 
That  the  church,  overhanging  the  Visp,  escaped  as   it  did, 
shows  how  much  firmer  the  structures  of  three  and  four  centu- 
ries ago  were  than  our  modern  edifices.     It  is  however,  now- 
tottering  with  the  actual  wear  and  tear  of  its  exposed  position, 
and  looks  eaten  with  storms  of  wind  and  sleet.     We  slept  at 
the  comfortable  inn  at  Visp,  and  next  morning  started  on 
mules  for  St.  Niklaus,  about  fifteen  miles  up  the  Visper-thal. 


252  Tht  Old  World  in  its  Neio  Face. 

As  we  rode  through  the  stony,  narrow  streets,  out  of  the 
town,  we  were  struck,  as  always  in  Switzerland,  with  the  pret- 
ty/rt-^^j  of  the  children  and  ih^vc-^oox  shapes,  and  with  the  de- 
crepit and  ungainly  looks  of  the  adults.  A  few  luxuriant 
fields,  with  lovely  chestnuts  rich  with  fruit,  varied  the  general 
sterility.  The  Visp,  with  its  sandy  bed,  broad  and  bare,  filled 
up  almost  the  whole  bottom  of  the  narrow  and  gloomy  valley. 
The  well-made  mule-path,  spite  of  stones,  and  ups  and  downs, 
and  spite  of  the  ill-sunned  vineyards,  opened  upon  striking 
prospects.  The  Breit-horn,  a  noble  snow  summit,  bounded 
one  end  of  the  valley,  and  another  snowy  peak  seemed  to 
close  up  the  view  behind  us,  as  we  entered  this  dreary  but 
fascinating  pass.  We  felt  every  step  as  if  we  were  stealing 
into  the  fastnesses  of  the  Alps,  and  leaving  civilization  and 
almost  humanity  behind  us.  Yet  wretched  black  hamlets, 
hung  like  bees  on  a  high  branch,  with  a  white  church  acting 
as  queen  bee,  clustered  on  the  almost  inaccessible  cliffs 
above  our  heads. 

A  church  festival  had  assembled  the  people  at  two  or 
three  villages  in  the  valley,  and  showed  us  how  populous 
those  silent  and  deserted-looking  slopes  really  were.  The 
hats  of  the  women,  which  a  stiff  wide  ribbon  in  a  few  loose 
plaits  converts  into  a  sort  of  many-colored  crown,  gave  a 
kind  of  picturesqueness  to  their  otherwise  dull  and  heavy 
faces,  and  thick,  short-waisted  forms.  The  children  kissed 
their  itching  palms  to  us  as  we  passed,  and  then  looked  down 
for  their  expected  penny !.  One  little  rogue  clung  to  our 
char  above  St.  Niklaus  for  a  mile  or  two,  silent,  but  with 
asking  eyes,  until  we  purchased  relief  for  our  overburdened 
horse  by  tossing  a  penny  over  his  head,  which  he  dropped 
instantly  to  find,  and  stood  looking  at  us  gloatingly  until  we 
were  out  of  sight.  The  road  after  awhile  mounts  the  edge 
of  a  precipice  and  runs  fearfully  on  its  verge  for  several 


67.   Niklaus.  253 

miles,  giving  those  dizzy  views  of  a  gulf  a  thousand  feet  be- 
low, which  so  many  enviable  people  enjoy  the  imagination 
of  falling  into,  but  which  afford  me  nothing  but  pain  and  a 
sickly  terror.  My  mule,  much  of  the  disposition  I  so  much 
envy,  appeared  to  enjoy  the  prospect  highly.  He  insisted 
upon  keeping  as  near  the  edge  as  possible,  and  now  hung 
his  nose  and  now  a  hind  leg  over  the  abyss.  If  I  could  have 
pushed  him  in  without  going  too,  I  fear  I  should  have  sent 
him,  in  my  chagrin,  to  that  '■'■horse  heaven"  (in  New  England 
I  learned  in  childhood  to  name  all  steep  ravines  lying  below 
traveled  roads  by  that  irreverent  title)  which  would  not  have 
rejected  even  mules.  For  those  who  enjoy  Tete  Noire  and 
Via  Mala  roads,  I  know  nothing  finer  than  this  precipitous 
mule-path.  The  approach  to  the  point  where  the  Saas  val- 
ley joins  the  Visper-thal,  is  peculiarly  grand,  and  makes  one 
hesitate  which  of  the  two  forks  he  would  choose  to  pursue. 
We  had,  however,  made  our  selection,  and  kept  on  through 
the  poverty-stricken  hamlet  clinging  like  a  fungus  to  the 
rocky  hill  of  Stalden,  where  it  shall  not  be  forgotten  that  a 
boy,  unsmitten  with  mercenary  passions,  flung  us  of  free  will 
a  bunch  of  grapes — and  so  on  to  St.  Niklaus.  Let  me  not 
pass  the  poorest  habitation,  where  the  patron  saint  of  my 
adopted  cit}'  is  baptismally  honored,  without  respect !  It  is 
doubtless  in  this  cool  and  quiet  place,  where  wood  is  cheap, 
and  carving  common,  that  Santa  Klaus  comes  in  the  summer 
months  to  superintend  the  fabrication  of  the  toys  he  scatters 
so  freely  at  Christmas !  Doubtless  here  he  refreshes  his 
mind,  after  contemplating  our  highly  artificial  comfort  and 
enervating  luxury,  with  the  strictly  natural  inconveniences 
and  tonic  severity  of  a  life  as  nearly  savage  as  is  consistent 
with  any  thing  not  absolutely  troglodytic.  St.  Niklaus  is 
conveniently  situated  under  a  precipitous  cliff  of  a  thousand 
feet  high,  just  at  the  angle  and  in  precisely  the  spot  where 


2  54  ^^'t'  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  snowy  avalanches  of  the  winter  are  accustomed  to  de- 
scend. Its  church  has  twice  been  thus  destroyed.  It  is  now 
and  then  shaken  by  an  earthquake,  to  vary  the  monotony  of 
avalanches.  To  its  disjointed,  crowded  and  ugly  heap  of 
houses,  it  adds  any  amount  of  dung-heaps  and  pig-sties,  and 
is  a  model  of  filth  and  disorder.  There  is  no  road  for  any 
sort  of  wheel-vehicle  out  of  the  valley.  The  church  and  the 
inn  are  the  only  places  where  decency  appears.  Here  Santa 
Klaus,  tired  of  the  exquisite  order  and  cleanliness  of  New 
York,  can  fly  to  enjoy  the  blessing  of  an  absolute  contrast. 
Might  it  not  be  well  to  send  our  city  government,  exhausted 
with  their  self-denying  labors,  their  fastidious  purity  and  their 
exacting  standards  of  public  convenience,  to  St.  Niklaus  on 
an  annual  excursion — not  to  exceed  twelve  months — to  un- 
bend their  minds  and  loosen  their  grasp,  so  fatiguing  to  them 
and  to  us,  upon  the  public  interests,  and  allow  them  to  enjoy 
the  proud  comparison  between  St.  Nicholas  at  home  and  St. 
Niklaus  abroad } 

Beyond  St.  Niklaus,  a  very  good  though  narrow  road,  wide 
enough  for  a  New  England  wagon,  runs  up  to  Zennatt.  Of 
course  all  the  vehicles  used  upon  it  have  to  be  built  on  the 
spot,  as  there  is  no  access  for  carriages  at  either  end  of  the 
valley.  But  a  good  wagon-builder  is  a  great  desideratum 
here.  The  axle-trees  of  the  existing  vehicles  are  built  of  wood. 
The  seats  are  hung  upon  leathern  straps,  and  the  springs  are 
supplied  by  the  natural  elasticity  of  the  human  body,  when 
not  too  old  and  lean.  Some  hard  mules  had  prepared  us  to 
think  almost  any  thing  short  of  riding  a  rail  tolerable  ;  but 
the  St.  Niklaus  char  convinced  us  of  the  haste  of  our  illogical 
anticipations.  A  jolt  which  lasts  a  dozen  miles  is  with  diffi- 
culty rendered  pleasant  by  any  amount  of  natural  elasticity. 
Our  bounding  spirits  had  not  cushioned  us  in  the  right  place. 
We  were  jarred  from  sole  to  crown.     I  felt  as  if  a  grater  had 


Hard  Usage. 


255 


mistaken  my  head  for  a  nutmeg.  The  road  was  one  pretty 
steady  pull  up  the  valley,  and  it  took  us  nearly  four  hours  to 
make  the  twelve  miles.  The  dull  speed  saved  our  lives, 
which  must  else  have  been  shaken  out  of  us.  Nothing  but  a 
special  providence  saved  them  again  when  we  had  to  return, 
and  found — not  to  our  surprise — the  road  running  all  the 
other  way  !  How  we  survived  the  thumping  of  that  char, 
when  it  made  five  miles  an  hour  on  the  return,  even  the 
English  physician  who  accompanied  us  was  puzzled,  notwith- 
standing his  full  knowledge  of  the  exquisite  stuffing  Nature 
has  applied  to  the  more  exposed  bones  and  joints,  fully  to 
explain. 


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XXIII. 


ZERMATT    AND    GENEVA, 


September  19,  1867. 

^ERMATT,  which  we  reached  by  3  p.m.,  is  a  poor  hamlet 
at  the  foot  of  the  great  Corner  glacier,  and  the  head  of 
the  Visp  valley.  Alaff  means  meadow,  and  if  Zer  is  any 
corruption  of  sour,  the  place  is  well  named.  Such  starved 
fields  I  never  saw  except  in  some  parts  of  Cape  Cod.  And 
yet,  all  the  artifices  and  labors  and  prudencies  of  the  most  en- 
couraging soil  were  evidently  brought  to  bear  on  this  ungrate- 
ful tract  of  land.  It  was  hedged  and  bounded  and  drained 
and  planted  precisely  as  if  it  had  been  a  meadow  in  Devon, 
England,  or  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania.  But  such  poor, 
discouraged  crops  I  have  rarely  been  called  to  sympathize 
with.  And  no  wonder !  Here,  in  the  very  presence  of  tre- 
mendous glaciers — with  snow  mountains  all  around  the  hori- 
zon, at  a  height  of  nearly  5000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  dwells  a 
set  of  peasants,  with  their  cows  and  their  goats,  trying  to  make 
believe  they  are  in  a  habitable  region.  What  they  did  before 
the  scenery-hunting  Englishmen  found  them  and  chose  their 
village  as  a  sort  of  jumping-off  place  from  all  civilization,  a 
farewell  to  fatiguing  comfort  and  facility  of  motion — what 
they  then  did  for  the  means  of  living,  it  is  hard  to  conceive. 
At  present  they  rear  their  poor  little  crops  and  tend  their  cat- 
tle (how  they  got  so  fat  and  big  is  a  mystery),  and  wait  on  the 
visitors  from  all  countries  who  have  come  to  think  Zermatt 
"  the  thing  "  to  do  after  Chamouni,  so  long  the  ultima  Thtde 


The  Matter-horn.  257 

of  tourists.  And  Zermatt  merits  its  honors !  For  over  it 
hangs  the  Matter-horn,  the  famous  Mont  Cervin — the  most 
emphatic  mountain  in  the  world. 

It  answers  best  to  the  ideal  mountain  which  children,  un- 
limited in  their  fancies,  always  have  in  mind  and  imagination 
when  they  dream  of  mountains — something  steep  and  peaked 
running  up  into  the  clouds  and  perhaps  grazing  the  moon. 
I  never  saw  any  mountain  except  the  Matter-horn  that  look- 
ed high  enough  to  satisfy  me !  Higher  mountains  there  are, 
Mont  Blanc  and  Monte  Rosa,  not  to  speak  of  Chimborazo 
and  Mount  Hood  and  Himalayas.  But  what  is  the  use  of 
being  high  and  looking  short .''  I  have  been  half-way  up  the 
Sierra  Nevadas,  without  once  suspecting  I  was  on  a  mount- 
ain-side, and  Mont  Blanc  and  Monte  Rosa,  too,  lose  much 
of  their  height  by  the  gradualness  of  their  rise  and  the  com- 
pany of  their  lofty  neighbors.  But  the  Matter-horn  suffers 
no  rival  to  approach  it !  For  miles  on  either  side  of  it  the 
mountain  chain  falls  away  to  a  low  level,  leaving  the  Mat- 
ter-horn, rising  like  an  iron  wedge,  4000  feet  above  the 
line  of  its  chain  ;  and  this  4000  feet  is  on  the  shoulders  of 
10,000,  which  form  its  noble  base.  Only  this  beautiful 
wedge  is  seen  from  Zermatt,  the  base  being  all  hid ;  but  it 
hangs  in  the  air  as  if  unsupported,  an  elegant,  regular  obe- 
lisk, rising  over  the  whole  landscape  in  unapproachable  beau- 
ty and  grandeur.  It  was  utterly  obscured  when  we  reached 
Zermatt  and  started  on  mules  to  climb  the  Rififel,  2000  feet 
above  the  village.  We  dared  not  in  the  late  season  lose  our 
chance  of  the  sunset  and  sunrise  of  a  single  day,  and  so, 
tired  as  we  were,  we  left  Zermatt  a  half-hour  after  arriving, 
for  the  hotel  on  the  Riffel.  In  the  grand  old  woods,  with 
their  gnarled  roots  and  rugged  Norway  pines,  with  the  gla- 
ciers peering  at  us,  like  the  frozen  serpent  of  the  North 
seeking  its  evening  prey,  and  with  cataracts  dashing  the  air 


258  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

into  strange  sounds,  we  chanced  to  look  up,  and  through  the 
leaves  of  the  trees  and  through  the  rising  mists  a  vast  ghost 
of  a  pyramid  stood  between  us  and  the  upper  sky !  The 
form  was  definite  yet  visionary — the  substance  chased  silver 
with  spots  less  bright  upon  its  surface,  the  size  enormous,  and 
the  height  incredible.  It  vanished  almost  as  suddenly  as  it 
came  ;  but  if  we  had  never  seen  it  again,  we  should  have 
felt  that  we  had  seen  the  most  wondrous  mountain  on  the 
globe.  We  gained  the  large  and  comfortable  hotel  on  the 
Riffel  by  a  steep  and  needlessly  rough  mule-path  of  2000 
feet  ascent  by  two  hours'  incessant  climbing. 

There  we  found  a  nearly  deserted  hotel,  with  ninety  beds 
—  until  the  middle  of  September  usually  crowded  every 
night — but  now  having  only  a  dozen  guests,  including  our  own 
party  of  three.  The  weather  was  cold  and  rough,  but  the 
promise  of  the  sunset  kept  us  all  out-of-doors.  Every  mo- 
ment some  one  of  the  half-circle  of  mountains  to  be  seen 
from  the  Riffel  cleared  its  head  from  the  clouds.  The 
Rhymfisch-horn,  the  Allalein-horn,  the  Roth-horn,  the  Weiss- 
horn —  most  elegant  of  peaks  —  the  two  Gabel-horns,  the 
Dent  Blanche — all  came  one  after  another  to  bid  the  sun 
good-night,  with  faces  smiling  and  with  beaming  eyes.  But 
the  Matter-horn  behaved  like  a  prima  donna  spoiled  with 
admiration  and  playing  sick  to  test  her  power  with  a  doting 
public.  For  two  days  our  fellow-guests  had  been  waiting  to 
see  Mont  Cervin,  and  in  vain,  except  at  5J  in  the  morning, 
when  for  two  days  at  that  precise  hour  he  had  come  like  a  spir- 
it at  cock-crow,  and  departed,  "  no  sooner  seen  than  gone." 
But  he  had  clearly  been  waiting  for  visitors  from  America 
— Englishmen  were  too  common  and  came  from  too  short 
a  distance  to  interest  him  !  Accordingly,  just  at  sunset,  he 
came  out  from  a  rift  in  a  bank  of  clouds  that  for  miles  long 
were  passing  slowly  before  him,  in  a  most  tedious  procession. 


Mountain  Domes.  259 

Nothing  ever  annoyed  me  more  in  the  shape  of  a  procession, 
except  St.  Patrick's  procession,  which  for  several  years  has 
broken  up  all  possible  connection  between  Union  Square  and 
Wall  Street  for  all  the  business  hours  of  the  day.  But  this 
cloudy  procession  had  a  gap  big  enough  to  let  the  Matter- 
horn  through,  and  before  it  closed  we  had  enjoyed  one  short, 
clear  vision  of  that  majestic,  exceptional,  nay,  unique  summit, 
which  eclipsed  beyond  comparison  all  single  mountain  views 
ever  under  our  eyes.  It  was  unusual  and  almost  unwelcome 
to  have  the  horn  of  Mont  Cervin  so  completely  covered  with 
snow.  Usually  it  is  quite  bare,  with  spots  of  snow  upon  it. 
But  the  weather  had  created  a  peculiar  sleet  which  sheathed 
the  upright  blade  of  the  Matter-horn  with  silver.  The  con- 
trast with  its  base  and  neighbors,  which  it  commonly  pre- 
sents in  its  rugged  black  pinnacle,  was  lost.  How  much  was 
gained  in  harmony,  I  can  not  say  until  I  have  seen  the  other 
effect.  There  is  such  a  splendor  in  the  other  snow  Aiguilles 
of  this  extraordinary  view,  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  how  much 
the  prospect  owes  to  the  Matter-horn  alone.  But  doubtless 
the  view  is  distracting,  and  lacks  the  unity  of  a  true  picture. 
This  became  still  more  obvious  the  next  morning,  when, 
with  a  sunrise  of  cloudless  beauty,  we  climbed  by  an  easy 
though  long  ascent  the  Corner  Grat,  1700  feet  above  the 
Riffel,  and  10,000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  Here  broke  upon 
us  the  three  great  masses  of  Monte  Rosa,  Lyskamm  and  the 
Breithorn,  which,  in  their  lumpish  vastness  and  absence  of 
features,  present  a  great  contrast  with  the  pinnacles  of  the 
other  half  of  the  panorama.  The  great  waste  of  unbroken 
snow  and  ice  which  this  chain  exhibits  is  sublime,  especially 
when  the  eye  gains,  by  attention  to  details,  some  conception 
of  its  vastness.  The  tendency  to  the  dome  rather  than  the 
peak  in  its  forms  is  a  little  oppressive  after  the  lightness  of 
the  exquisite  Aiguilles  opposite,  but  each  side  lends  the  other 


2  6o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

interest,  and  doubtless  enriches  the  panoramic  effect.  Monte 
Rosa,  I  must  confess,  as  a  mountain  by  itself  and  separated 
from  its  chain,  greatly  disappointed  me,  as  seen  from  this 
side.  It  has  no  obvious  elevation  above  its  neighbors,  and 
is  even  exceeded  in  effect  by  Lyskamm  and  Breithorn.  Its 
summit  is  a  rather  mean  little  horn,  with  nothing  to  distin- 
guish it  from  a  neighboring  knob,  and  in  every  way  inferior  to 
twenty  peaks  in  full  view.  The  great  Corner  glacier,  which 
lies  in  majestic  length  and  breadth  below  the  Corner  Crat, 
stretching  its  glistening  bulk  up  near  the  very  summit  of 
Monte  Rosa,  and  then  winding  in  vast  curves  its  way  down 
to  the  Zermatt  valley,  is  a  most  impressive  spectacle. 
Breithorn  is  a  far  grander  and  more  individual  mountain,  in 
my  eyes,  than  Rosa.  His  sides  are  spotted  with  rocks  which 
give  him  a  brindled  appearance  that  is  pleasing.  Castor  and 
Pollux,  two  lower  summits,  just  vary  the  Monte  Rosa  chain, 
by  interposing  a  gentler  feature  in  their  hannonious  duality. 
If  panoramas  are  ever  satisfactory,  the  Corner  Crat  may 
claim  to  present  a  perfect  specimen.  I  confess  that  my  aes- 
thetic instincts  are  always  wounded  by  pictures  that  have  not 
a  beginning,  a  middle  and  an  end,  or  in  which  beginning  and 
end  take  each  other's  places.  But,  putting  pictures  aside, 
the  sublime  effect  of  being  encircled  by  a  horizon  of  snow 
mountains  which  is  so  high  as  to  make  a  world  of  its  own, 
can  not  be  overstated.  There  was  an  exhilaration  in  the 
position  of  transcendent  charm. 

The  Riffelberg,  a  sort  of  natural  castle,  black  and  forbid- 
ding, we  had  passed  on  the  way  up.  Although  the  special 
ascent  is  not  five  hundred  feet,  it  cost  a  clergyman,  a  year  or 
two  ago,  his  life — slipping  from  its  craggy  sides,  which  he 
had  mounted  safely  in  the  morning,  on  a  second  trip  in  the 
afternoon.  It  was  deemed  inaccessible  until  Mr.  Wilson 
climbed  it.     The  Matter-horn  showed  us  plainly  the  track, 


Climbing  Mountains.  261 

on  the  edge  or  angle  of  its  two  hither  sides,  up  which  the 
party,  headed  by  an  English  clergyman,  went  when  year  be- 
fore last  they  scaled  the  peak,  and  four  men  lost  their  lives  in 
descending.  They  were  bound  together  by  a  rope,  and  when 
the  weight  of  the  four  men  strained  it,  held  in  the  hands  of 
the  remaining  three,  it  broke  and  they  fell  three  or  four  thou- 
sand feet  down  the  most  precipitous  side  of  the  peak.  Since 
then,  and  in  spite  of  this  warning,  repeated  though  infrequent 
ascents  of  the  Matter-horn  have  been  made.  It  is  clearly  a 
matter  of  mere  endurance  and  carefulness  to  ascend  any  of 
these  mountains.  Mont  Blanc  is  now  considered  the  easiest 
of  the  half-dozen  most  difficult.  A  gentleman  of  our  party, 
who  ascended  twelve  years  ago,  said  that  it  was  disappoint- 
ingly easy  in  every  respect  except  mere  plodding  fatigue  in 
winding  about  crevasses  or  walking  miles  and  miles  in  the 
snow.  There  were  no  terrific  scrambles,  or  dizzy  scaling  of 
precipices,  or,  in  short,  any  thing  to  prevent  a  woman  or  a 
child  whose  muscles  could  hold  out  from  making  the  ascent. 
The  Alpine  climbers  on  the  Riffel  with  us  were  making  diffi- 
cult snow  passes  evffry  week.  Two  a  week  they  considered 
about  a  dose.  Their  faces  were  moderately  skinned,  their 
lips  cracked,  and  their  general  appearance  not  enviable. 
And  yet  they  were  "in  condition,"  and  could  make  their 
twenty  miles'  tramp  over  glaciers  and  cols  eleven  and  twelve 
thousand  feet  high,  without  serious  fatigue,  and  with  great 
enjoyment.  According  to  their  representation  danger  upon 
the  ice  is  always  the  result  of  foolish  neglect  of  well-known 
precautions.  The  open  crevasses  are  not  dangerous  to  peo- 
ple of  any  steadiness  of  footing  and  a  proper  preparation  of 
the  shoes  with  hob-nails.  It  is  the  snow-bridges  across  the 
hidden  crevasses  that  constitute  the  only  serious  peril.  A 
crust  capable  of  bearing  a  man  is  often  thus  formed  over  a 
crevasse ;  but  it  may  look  firm  and  be  weak,  or  it  may  not 


262  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

differ  in  appearance  from  the  ordinary  surface,  and  yet  give 
way  and  let  the  traveler  down  fifty  or  a  hundred  feet.  A  per- 
fect security  is  obtained  by  using  "  the  rope."  A  party  of 
three  or  five — the  more  the  better — thus  bound  together  by 
the  waist,  with  an  interval  of  ten  feet  between  each  two,  may 
cross  any  glacier  with  impunity.  If  one  slumps  in,  he  is 
caught  by  his  companions  and  immediately  lifted  from  his 
fall,  which  can  not  go  far  with  a  taut  rope.  The  gentlemen 
on  the  Riffel  had  crossed  the  previous  day  a  glacier-pass, 
thus  roped  together,  and  had  in  turn  fallen  into  crevasses  as 
many  as  a  dozen  times  in  their  passage  over,  without  any 
penalty  except  a  momentary  fright,  which  after  a  little  expe- 
rience passed  away.  In  short  they  quite  laughed  at  the  pop- 
ular ideas  of  the  difficulties  of  the  high  Alps.  The  Theodule 
pass,  for  instance,  which  lay  in  full  view  to  the  left  of  Mont 
Cervin,  although  a  lofty  pass,  over  many  miles  of  snow  and 
ice,  has  been  crossed  by  ladies  in  a  chaise-a-porteur.  Cows 
are  occasionally  driven  across  it  into  Italy,  and  it  was  long  a 
favorite  pass  for  persons  running  the  customs,  and  smuggling 
silks  and  laces  and  tobacco  over  the  frontier. 

We  returned  to  Visp  without  any  fresh  experiences  on 
the  road.  The  sheep  and  goats  are  commonly  marked  like 
the  mountains,  white  as  snow  and  black  as  rocks  in  spots. 
The  goats,  in  their  white  trousers  and  black  jackets,  looked 
almost  like  school-boys  in  procession  as  they  filed  into  town  at 
sundown.  The  lambs  were  comical  enough  in  their  marking, 
muzzle,  tip  of  tail,  feet,  black  as  ink,  and  all  the  rest  white  as 
chalk.  I  am  greatly  in  love  with  the  Swiss  goats,  they  are  so 
tame  and  yet  so  agile  and  graceful,  so  useful,  and  so  orna- 
mental. 

We  made  an  effort  to  cross  the  Gemmi,  and  drove  ten 
miles  up  the  marvelous  and  beautiful  road  that  runs  up 
from  Leuk  to  the  Baths  of  Loeche.     Nothing  in  the  way  of 


The  Hall  of  the  Reformation.  263 

road-making,  nothing  in  the  way  of  valley- views,  nothing  in 
the  way  of  precipices,  can  be  finer.  The  situation  of  Loeche 
les  Bains,  under  the  most  architectural  cliffs  I  ever  saw,  is  su- 
perb. But,  alas !  a  fearful  storm  of  wind  and  snow  baffled 
our  farther  progress  at  this  point.  The  people  at  the  hotel 
declared  the  mule-path  over  the  mountain  dangerous,  and  as 
we  had  almost  had  our  heads  blown  off  in  getting  thus  far, 
we  concluded  not  to  risk  them  any  farther.  We  accordingly 
drove  back  to  Leuk  next  morning,  and  so  on  to  Sion,  and 
there  took  the  rail  for  Lausanne  and  Geneva,  where  we  had  re- 
solved to  lay  by  for  a  week  and  "  repair  damages  " — a  phrase 
which  to  foreign  tourists  means  renovation  of  the  wardrobe, 
which  is  sadly  tried  by  much  travel. 

Gen.  Meigs,  U.  S.  A.,  our  energetic  and  patriotic  Quarter- 
master-General through  the  war,  is  now  recruiting  his  shat- 
tered health  in  Europe.  He  recommended  the  guides  at 
Chamouni  (who  lie  by  nearly  idle  for  eight  months  in  the 
year)  to  employ  their  leisure  in  making  a  railroad  between 
Chamouni  and  Geneva,  for  the  transportation  of  the  glacial 
ice  of  Bossons  and  Du  Bois  to  Paris.  Certainly  if  we  had 
such  reservoirs  of  beautiful  ice,  we  should  economize  them  in 
some  such  way,  especially  if  labor  was  as  cheap  with  us  as  in 
Europe.  But  there  is  little  invention  or  enterprise  here. 
They  go  on  working  by  hard  hand  labor,  when  a  little  pains 
would  do  it  all  away.  There  is  great  need  of  some  new  stim- 
ulus to  mechanical  improvements.  They  want  a  hundred 
thousand  Yankees  in  every  European  countiy  to  supply  men 
with  "  notions." 

Geneva,  September  28. 

We  chanced  to  return  to  Geneva  on  a  day  of  peculiar  in- 
terest for  its  religious  history,  the  day  when  the  "  Salle  de  la 
Reformation,"  just  finished,  was  dedicated,  in  the  morning 
by  special  religious  services,  in  the  evening  by  a  historical 


264  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

address  from  the  venerable  Merle  d'Aubigne,  "The  Arrival 
of  Calvin  at  Geneva."  The  morning  service  we  know  of  only 
by  report ;  the  evening  address  we  had  the  pleasure  of  hear- 
ing. "  The  Hall  of  the  Reformation "  is  a  plain  building 
without  external  shapeliness  or  show,  but  capable  of  holding 
two  thousand  persons  in  its  chief  audience-chamber,  and 
having  numerous  rooms  and  offices  suited  to  committees  and 
other  small  gatherings.  It  seems  that  the  project  was  con- 
ceived in  the  Conferences  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  held 
at  Geneva  in  1861,  and  received  its  final  shape  at  the  com- 
memoration of  the  third  centenary  of  Calvin's  death,  27th 
May,  1864.  The  erection  of  the  building  has  been  effected  by 
contributions  from  the  United  States,  Scotland  and  England, 
principally  from  England.  Little  or  nothing  has  been  con- 
tributed in  Geneva.  Several  thousand  francs  are  still  due 
upon  it,  and  efforts  are  soon  to  be  made  to  raise  that  sum 
here.  The  editor  of  the  Semaine  Religeuse  (No.  38,  Sept.  21, 
1867),  the  only  Protestant  organ  in  Geneva,  and  apparently 
in  the  interest  of  the  Orthodox  party  in  the  National  Church, 
regrets,  in  giving  notice  of  the  consecration  of  this  hall,  that 
in  rendering  homage  to  Calvin  (for  one  of  its  names  is  Cal- 
vinium,  or  house  of  Calvin)  a  larger  spirit  and  one  more  in 
accordance  with  public  sentiment  had  not  been  observed. 
He  regrets  that  the  building  should  have  been  founded  on 
the  ground  of  a  special  confession  of  faith — the  Confession  of 
the  "  Evangelical  Alliance  " — instead  of  being  based  upon  that 
larger  platform  on  which  the  National  Church  of  Geneva  is 
built,  viz.,  "The  divine  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 
He  acknowledges  that  the  project  was  started  by  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  but  thinks  that  it  will  lose  some  of  the  ends 
aimed  at  by  liaving  excluded  many  of  the  living  forces  of 
Protestantism  at  Geneva,  by  its  too  narrow  platform.  This 
is  a  very  remarkable  concession  from  an  understood  organ 


Religion  in   Geneva.  265 

of  the  self-styled  Evangelical  party  in  the  National  Church. 
Before  going  farther,  it  will  be  well  to  give  such  information 
as  we  have  been  able  to  gather  from  competent  sources  at 
Geneva,  touching  the  present  condition  of  Protestantism 
here. 

The  Cantonial,  or  State  Church,  is  Protestant.  It  has 
about  fifty  ministers,  of  which  half  are  in  Geneva  and  half 
in  the  country.  Geneva  constitutes  a  single  parish,  divided 
into  sub-parishes,  and  served  by  a  Collegiate  Pastorate,  who 
preach  in  turn  in  the  various  churches,  of  which  there  are 
six  or  seven.  The  old  cathedral,  St.  Gervais,  the  Madeleine, 
are  among  the  principal  churches.  The  Genevan  Church  is 
modeled  evidently  upon  the  French  Protestant  Church,  and 
experiences  many  of  the  social  difficulties  and  reflects  all 
the  theological  pRases  of  that  Church.  It  possesses  a  Litur- 
gy whose  creed  is  very  broad,  and  which  it  is  perfectly  possi- 
ble for  Unitarian  and  Trinitarian  interpreters  of  the  Script- 
ures to  use  in  good  faith.  This  Liturgy  is  publicly  used 
without  variation,  and  has  long  been  used  by  pastors  of  both 
schools  of  theology.  Since  1822,  a  very  strong  Liberalism, 
precisely  equivalent  to  the  Unitarianism  of  Channing  and 
Ware,  has  prevailed  in  the  Genevan  Church.  Every  body 
knows  the  active  part  which  the  now  venerable  professor 
and  pastor,  Dr.  Cheneviere,  took  in  the  discussion  which  ter- 
minated in  a  large  accession  of  the  people  to  Unitarian 
opinions  —  actually  such,  though  not  called  by  that  name. 
For  awhile  it  seemed  as  if  Calvinism  were  actually  dead  in 
the  place  of  its  birth,  and  those  who  had  killed  it  too  fondly 
believed  it  would  never  rise  again.  But  the  fall  of  Calvin- 
ism at  Geneva  was  not  a  mere  local  disaster  in  the  estima- 
tion of  its  friends  in  all  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  tendency  to  Unitarianism,  or  the  actual  liberality  of 
the  pastors  and  people  in  the  seat  of  Calvin's  ancient  autoc- 

M 


266  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

racy,  were  blows  of  fatal  significance  to  the  system  every- 
where. Accordingly,  outside  influence  has  been  at  work  for 
thirty  years  and  more  to  stay  the  liberal  current,  and  to  re- 
store if  possible  the  prestige  of  Calvin  in  his  old  home.  Dr. 
Merle  d'Aubigne,  still  living  at  the  age  of  75  years — profes- 
sor and  pastor  here,  has  been  perhaps  the  chief  champion 
of  the  reaction.  Gaussen,  with  whose  popular  little  work  on 
the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  most  students  in  the- 
ology are  familiar  (and  a  work  of  unusual  audacity  and  ig- 
noring of  all  inconvenient  learning  it  is),  has  been. another 
strong  fighter  for  the  reaction  ;  but  is  now  dead.  Malan  is 
the  third  name  specially  entitled  to  mention,  but  he  is  lately 
dead  also.  Vinet,  who  lived  and  labored  in  Lausanne  and 
had  much  influence  in  France  in  his  day,  but  is  now  dead, 
does  not  seem  to  rank  with  these  in  import&,nce,  if  measured 
by  the  respect  of  their  opponents.  He  is  said  to  have  be- 
come liberal  in  his  last  days,  and  it  is  even  asserted  that  his 
latest  writings  were  suppressed  by  his  family.  Dr.  Merle 
(they  seldom  use  the  family  name  in  referring  to  him  here) 
has  abandoned  new  theological  studies  and  given  himself  up 
to  ecclesiastical  history.  He  is  not  a  thinker,  but  a  dra- 
matic describer  of  situations.  His  theological  opinions  have 
apparently  undergone  no  growth  or  development  for  thirty- 
six  years.  He  has  a  fixed  and  never-questioned  creed, 
which  he  has  apparently  not  thought  about  since  he  first 
adopted  it,  and  he  holds  it  precisely  as  if  it  had  never  been 
doubted  or  denied.  Meanwhile  he  has  written,  as  every  body 
knows,  the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  a  highly  interesting 
and  dramatic  way.  Chalmers  gave  it  its  first  renown  by 
announcing  its  author  as  the  greatest  living  historian  !  Few 
who  know  his  own  imaginative  character  will  think  him  a 
very  competent  authority.  The  feeling  among  scholars  and 
thinkers  in  Germany  seems  to  be  that  Professor  Merle  has 


Liberalism  and  OrtJwdoxy.  267 

written  very  interesting  sketches  under  the  name  of  the  His- 
tory of  the  Reformation,  but  hardly  permanent  and  wholly 
reliable  history.  Every  body  gives  this  gentleman  credit  for 
integrity  and  Christian  purity  of  life  and  character  ;  few 
judges  seem  to  think  him  entitled  to  the  reputation  he  en- 
joys in  Scotland,  England  and  America.  It  is  evidently  in 
part  factitious,  and  due  to  his  theological  opinions ;  it  is  still 
more  due  to  the  incompetency  of  those  who  feel  most  the 
charm  of  his  dramatic  style  to  estimate  its  historical  accura- 
cy. Dr.  Merle  was  not  thought  very  sound  on  the  question 
of  our  late  war.  Of  the  thirty  pastors  connected  with  the 
Protestant  Church  in  Geneva,  it  is  said  that  twelve  or  thirteen 
are  liberal,  that  is  to  say,  essentially  Unitarian  in  their  theol- 
ogy ;  and  as  a  proof  that  the  people  are  in  sympathy  with 
them  rather  than  with  the  Orthodox  party,  every  new  elec- 
tion to  a  vacancy,  it  is  affirmed  by  my  informers,  is  in  their 
favor.  On  the  other  hand  the  native  aristocracy,  the  wealthy 
and  conservative  element  in  Geneva,  supports  the  Orthodox 
side.  •  There  is  (to  explain  this)  a  special  relation  between 
the  religion  and  the  political  tendencies  in  Geneva — an  em- 
barrassing connection.  Democracy  has  always  struggled 
here  with  the  old  aristocracy,  and  there  is  a  sort  of  Red 
Republican  party  in  Switzerland  which  keeps  the  sober  in- 
telligence of  the  country  in  a  perpetual  alarm,  and  impels 
many  with  moderate  views  to  lean  rather  to  the  aristocratic 
than  the  popular  side.  The  Calvinists  in  theology  use  the 
political  fears  of  the  Moderate  party  to  enlist  them  on  the 
Conservative  side  in  theology,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  infer  any 
real  sympathy  with  the  theological  opinions  of  the  Orthodox, 
from  the  support  they  thus  receive  on  political  grounds.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten,  either,  that  Calvin  has  a  national  pres- 
tige, aside  from  his  theology,  in  Geneva,  to  whose  moral  rep- 
utation and  political  liberties  he  rendered  such  substantial 


268  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

services.  His  immense  personal  weiglit  of  character  and 
vigor  of  mind  make  him  still  the  central  figure  in  Genevan 
history,  and  his  bust  stands  with  those  of  Fabbri  in  his 
bishop's  mitre,  De  Candolle,  J.  J.  Rousseau  (a  curious  col- 
location), upon  the  cornice  of  the  new  Athenaeum  in  the 
city;  yet,  after  all,  from  the  best  information  I  could  get, 
Calvinism  as  a  theology  is  a  shadow  and  not  a  substance  in 
Geneva.  It  is  sustained  on  grounds  of  policy  by  an  influen- 
tial class,  not  intelligently  embraced  by  the  peojjle  as  a  free 
choice  of  their  hearts  and  minds.  It  is  upheld  by  foreign 
influence  ;  by  money  from  abroad  ;  by  a  policy  which  is  ani- 
mated by  English,  Scotch  and  American  sects  in  sympathy 
with  it,  and  not  by  the  affections  or  convictions  of  the  native 
population.  Its  throne,  like  many  a  political  fabric  leaning 
on  foreign  bayonets,  is  of  course  unreal  and  uncertain.  Ge- 
neva is  not  a  Calvinistic  city  in  any  proper  sense.  Liberal 
religious  thought  steadily  advances  among  the  people,  and 
there  is  no  prospect  of  any  reaction  of  a  genuine  kind  in  fa- 
vor of  the  Institutes  of  John  Calvin.  Such  at  least  is  the 
testimony  of  the  intelligent  and  candid  men  whom  I  have 
consulted  on  the  ground.  Let  me  now  return  to  the  meeting 
in  the  Calvinium  and  to  M.  Merle's  address. 

At  seven  o'clock,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  great  crowd  of 
Genevese,  entering  the  new  "  Salle  de  la  Reformation."  The 
people  were  of  all  classes  of  society,  but  composed  largely  of 
plain,  roughly-dressed  but  respectable  persons  of  both  sexes, 
including  a  percentage  of  youth.  It  was  more  like  the  audi- 
ence of  a  country  lyceum  in  a  large  manufacturing  town  in 
New  England  than  any  collection  of  people  I  have  seen  in 
Europe.  The  hall,  exceedingly  plain,  but  lofty  and  not  with- 
out a  certain  harmony  of  color  and  form,  was  furnished  with 
unpainted  and  cushionless  seats — benches  with  backs.  It 
had  two  galleries  running  down  both  sides,  like  our  Boston 


Calvin  in   Geneva.  269 

Music  Hall.  The  rostrum  was  occupied  by  forty  men*  of  a 
ministerial  appearance.  From  1500  to  2000  persons  were 
assembled — a  verf  orderly,  intelligent  and  attentive  audience. 
M.  Merle  d'Aubigne  came  in  quietly  and  took  his  place  in 
the  pulpit,  and  after  a  short  prayer  gave  out  a  familiar  hymn, 
which  was  heartily  sung  by  the  congregation.  He  then 
begun  his  address,  which  he  read  like  a  practiced  orator. 
Out  view  was  a  distant  one.  Bald,  with  heavy  eyebrows,  an 
erect  and  commanding  form,  a  thin  French  face,  a  clear, 
strong  and  audible  voice,  it  was  difBcult  to  believe  that  a 
man  of  75  years  was  addressing  and  making  himself  general- 
ly heard  in  this  vast  audience.  With  great  vivacity,  highly 
dramatic  action  and  unflagging  vigor,  he  spoke  an  hour  and  a 
half  upon  his  theme — the  arrival  of  Calvin  at  Geneva.  He 
sketched  the  history  of  the  man  and  the  time  ;  the  condition 
of  things  political  and  religious  in  Geneva  at  Calvin's  com- 
ing ;  his  struggle  with  the  Savoy  princes  ;  his  preaching,  and 
the  re-novation  of  the  public  morals.  He  passed  with  a  light 
and  judicious  hand  over  Calvin's  theology,  presenting  what 
he  called  his  principles  only  in  a  very  general  way,  and  paint- 
ing them  in  their  aspects  toward  political  liberty  and  free- 
dom from  the  Catholic  yoke.  But  his  real  subject  was  an  at- 
tack, well  deserved,  upon  the  irreligious  implications  of  the 
late  Peace  Convention,  and  an  assertion  of  the  absolute  im- 
portance of  a  positive  faith  in  Christianity  to  the  moral,  so- 
cial and  economic  prosperity  of  Geneva  and  the  world. 
His  address  was  highly  dramatic,  interesting  and  judicious, 
but  indicated  no  freshness,  originality  or  peculiar  force  of 
thought.  It  had  no  critical  merit,  and  no  illumination  in  it 
for  persons  in  the  least  acquainted  with  the  subject.  It  was 
easy  to  see  what  the  magic  of  his  personal  influence  was 
over  his  pupils,  and  over  hearers  who  demand  only  to  be 
pleased.     I  was  fully  repaid  for  the  two  hours  I  gave  to  the 


270  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

seance.  It  was  difficult  to  reconcile  the  presence  of  this  great 
audience  with  the  alleged  unpopularity  of  M.  Merle's  theo- 
logical opinions  among  the  people  of  Geneva.  But  the  new- 
ness of  the  hall  and  its  free  seats  had  moved  the  curiosity  of 
hundreds  to  go,  and  M.  Merle,  apart  from  his  opinions,  is  a 
speaker  whom  those  who  least  agree  with  him  must  often  de- 
sire to  hear. 

I  hope  to  attend  upon  another  meeting  in  the  Hall  of  the 
Reformation  to-morrow  evening,  Sunday,  when  various  minis- 
ters, native  and  foreign,  are  expected  to  speak. 

This  hall  is  not  a  church.  It  is  designed  to  promote  the 
interests  of  Orthodox  Calvinism,  by  various  religious,  ed- 
ucational, philanthropic  and  literary  appliances ;  by  evening 
schools  of  a  secular  character,  and  by  a  lively  interest  in  the 
wants  of  the  common  people.  It  will  be  supported  by  for- 
eign funds,  and  is  a  skillful  and  politic  arrangement  for  carry- 
ing forward  indirectly  what  could  not  be  as  well  advanced 
by  more  direct  methods.  Orthodoxy  in  England,  America 
and  Scotland  is  thoroughly  alarmed  at  the  free  religious  tend- 
encies of  literature,  politics  and  philosophy.  It  sees  that 
the  old  theology  of  the  Reformation  is  against  the  grain  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  hopes  by  a  vigorous  and  careful 
policy  to  arrest  the  current  of  popular  thinking.  It  does  not 
recognize  any  thing  providential,  necessary  and  irresistible  in 
the  tendencies  which  have  cast  Orthodoxy,  as  a  snake  casts 
his  old  skin.  The  more  effort  it  makes  in  the  direction  of 
this  new  movement  at  Geneva,  the  better.  If  it  really  seeks 
to  educate,  interest,  or  even  amuse  the  people,  it  will  only  un- 
wittingly confirm  their  incapacity  for  being  Calvinists.  It 
can  only  make  them  such  by  adapting  Calvin  himself  to  the 
times.  If  he  is  to  continue  Captain  of  Genevan  thought  and 
Genevan  theology,  he  must  himself  be  made  a  nineteenth 
century  theologian  !     Whatever  may  be  the  motives  or  ex- 


Cheneviere.  271 

Dectations  of  the  supporters  of  this  scheme,  its  results,  I  have 
no  manner  of  doubt,  will  be  such  as  American  Liberal  Chris- 
tians could  desire  and  well  approve. 

I  called,  with  a  letter  from  Dr.  Palfrey,  upon  the  venerable 
Cheneviere,  the  champion  of  religious  liberty  and  an  un-Cal- 
vinistic  faith  in  Geneva  forty  years  ago,  and  who  has  never 
ceased  to  contend  with  it  in  a  Christian  spirit  and  with  un- 
faltering courage  and  faith.  He  is  now  eighty  years  old,  and 
in  delicate  health,  but  alive  in  spirit,  affection  and  intellectual 
convictions.  He  maintains  a  perfect  confidence  in  the  essen- 
tial progress  of  religious  liberty  and  Liberal  Christianity  in 
Geneva  ;  said  that  Calvinism  was  continually  falling,  and 
could  never  rise  again  in  any  substantial  reality.  It  was 
charming  to  see  this  finished  French  gentleman,  with  his 
graceful  manners  and  esprit,  sitting  in  his  library,  still  at 
work  on  theological  questions,  and  adding  to  the  ease  of  the 
man  of  the  world  the  gentleness  and  dignit}'  of  the  Christian 
minister.  He  had  known  Tuckerman  and  Ware,  Palfrey  and 
the  younger  Channing,  and  spoke  of  all  of  them  with  affec- 
tionate respect.  He  has  a  son,  he  told  me,  settled  as  a  teach- 
er of  a  young  ladies'  school  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  a  man  of 
character  and  talents,  and  a  successful  extempore  lecturer, 
whom,  for  the  sake  of  his  venerable  father,  I  desire  to  intro- 
duce to  our  Unitarian  ministers  in  Brooklyn,  and  to  our  Liber- 
al friends  there,  begging  their  attention  to  his  school  and  him- 
self— a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  I  called,  also,  on  Rev. 
Pastor  Viollier,  of  the  National  Church,  whom  I  found  to  be  a 
thorough  Unitarian,  and  a  man  of  marked  intelligence,  can- 
dor and  worth.  He  half  promised  to  write  me  an  article  for 
the  Christian  Examiner,  on  the  present  attitude  of  Liberal 
Protestantism  in  Switzerland.  It  would  be,  I  doubt  not,  a 
valuable  contribution,  and  correct  any  errors  into  which  I 
may  have  run  in  this  somewhat  hasty  sketch,  which,  however. 


272 


The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


I  have  done  my  best  to  make  exact.  M.  Cheneviere  named 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Cougnard,  Guillermet,  Oltramare  and  Viol- 
lier  as  among  the  most  able  Liberal  ministers  in  the  National 
Church  of  Geneva. 


XXIV. 

GENEVA, 


Switzerland,  September  29,  1867. 

/■^ENEVA  is  the  most  cosmopolitan  of  all  cities  of  its 
size.  It  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  European  centre  of  ex- 
iles for  political,  religious  and  socialistic  opinions.  Jews 
and  Christians,  Catholics  and  Protestants,  Infidels  and  Be- 
lievers, Orthodox  and  Heterodox,  Greek  and  Roman  church- 
men. Rationalists  and  Supernaturalists,  Progressives  and  Re- 
actionaries, Anti-Government  men  and  Imperialists,  Red 
Republicans  and  Conservatives,  all  are  in  activity  here.  The 
proper  character  of  the  city  and  people  is  swamped  in  its 
foreign  population.  It  is  a  sort  of  fulcrum  on  which  all  mod- 
ern powers  of  thought  and  aspiration  are  resting  their  levers. 
Perhaps  it  has  less  original  mental  activity  than  it  once  had, 
and  has  fewer  distinguished  exiles  ;  but  it  is  the  refuge  and 
halting-place  of  thousands  of  restless  and  self-banished  per- 
sons who  find  in  its  political  freedom,  its  central  situation, 
its  attractive  scenery  and  unrivaled  facilities  for  living  pleas- 
antly and  moderately,  a  reason  for  choosing  it  as  a  tempo- 
rary home.  Here  travelers  in  Switzerland  are  apt  to  ter- 
minate, by  a  stay  of  a  few  days  or  weeks,  their  laborious 
pleasures  among  the  mountains.  Here,  too,  the  more  enter- 
prising portion  of  traveling-parties  leave  the  less  active  mem- 
bers of  their  company  to  rest.  Parents  establish  their  chil- 
dren at  its  schools,  and  many  Americans,  Russians,  English, 
live  here  the  year  round.     The  new  part  of  the  city  is  truly 

M  2 


2  74  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

Parisian  and  cosmopolitan  in  its  aspect.  What  can  be  finer 
than  the  street  about  the  foot  of  the  lake,  and  on  either  side 
the  broad  yet  arrowy  Rhone,  that  shoots  fiercely  blue  and 
swift  out  of  Leman,  with  all  the  force  and  beauty  of  the  Ni- 
agara river,  broken  with  slight  falls,  but  exquisitely  pure  and 
grandly  copious  ?  The  Pont  du  Mont  Blanc,  a  new  bridge, 
wide  and  long,  is  surely  one  of  the  noblest  bridges  in  the 
world.  Low  in  its  piers,  it  is  so  solid,  wide  and  command- 
ing in  its  position,  that  nothing  on  the  Seine  or  the  Thames 
strikes  me  as  so  attractive.  This  part  of  the  city  is  com- 
posed almost  wholly  of  magnificent  hotels — the  Beau  Riv- 
age  ;  the  "  de  la  Paix,"  with  its  Pension ;  the  Hotel  des  Ber- 
gues,  on  one  side  ;  the  Metropole,  the  I'Ecu ;  the  Couronne, 
the  Hotel  de  la  Porte,  and  others,  on  the  opposite  side. 
What  can  be  finer,  architecturally,  or  give  a  stronger  notion 
of  the  immense  hospitality  of  Geneva  to  strangers  ?  The 
upper  town  —  quite  separated  by  its  steep  and  narrow  ap- 
proaches from  the  lower  town — with  streets  and  lanes  and 
flights  of  stairs,  and  irregular  places,  that  could  only  have 
originated  within  straitened  walls  two  or  more  centuries  ago, 
is  the  ossified  heart  of  Geneva,  which  once  beat  with  earnest 
life  and  motion.  It  is  still  occupied  by  the  relics  of  the  old 
noblesse  and  the  would-be  aristocracy  of  the  city — the  Gene- 
van St.  Germain — and  still  keeps  up  a  little  of  its  arrogant 
contempt  for  the  lower,  newer,  and  living  city.  The  new 
town  returns  its  disdain,  and  on  occasions  when  this  antago- 
nism has  taken  on  an  active  character,  has  brought  the  upper 
town  to  terms  by  cutting  off  its  water,  which  is  supplied  by 
works  from  below. 

J.  J.  Rousseau's  island  is  between  the  two  main  bridges, 
and,  while  it  commemorates  his  name,  affords  a  point  of  view 
for  the  lake  and  the  range  of  Mont  Blanc.  That  wonderful 
pile  of  mountains  is  seen  in  fine  weather,  from  the  Quai  du 


Williatn  Mofiod.  275 

Mont  Blanc,  to  great  advantage;  indeed,  far  better,  to  my 
view,  than  at  any  nearer  point — as  its  relative  magnitude 
may  here  be  duly  estimated. 

September  30. 

A  showy  and  picturesque  Jewish  synagogue  in  the  lower 
town,  I  visited  yesterday ;  a  Greek  Church  on  the  hill,  of 
a  rich  Saracenic  style,  where   a  Russian  priest  says  mass 
on   every   Sunday   morning.     This   morning   at  9  a.m.  we 
attended   divine  service   at   the  Oratoire — one   of  the  dis- 
senting chapels — attracted  by  the  announcement  that  Rev. 
William  Monod,  of  Paris  (in  attendance  upon  the  seances  of 
the  "  Salle  de  la  Reformation  "),  would  preach.     His  elder 
brothers,  Adolph  and  Frederic,  are  both  dead.     The  church, 
hidden  in  a  narrow  lane  of  the  upper  town,  is  mean  though 
venerable  in  its  exterior  ;  plain  and  dark  in  its  interior,  light- 
ed from  above  and  at  the  end,  much  like  our  old  church  in 
Chambers  Street,  of  which  both  in  size  and  shape  it  remind- 
ed me  afifectingly.      M.  Monod  was  in  the  pulpit,  and  had 
already  begun  the  services  when  we  entered.     The  congre- 
gation— about  six  hundred — filled  the  chapel,  and  was  com- 
posed four-fifths  of  women  and  children.     A  few  substantial 
men,  of  evident  position,  sat  on  the  pulpit  platform.      The 
minister  was  in  a  reading-desk,  in  front  of  the  pulpit.     The 
chorister  stood  near  him  and  conducted  the  effective  con- 
gregational singing.      The  liturgical  service  was  thin  and 
meagre,  without  responses  or  vocal  participation,  except  in 
the  singing.     Indeed,  the  whole  service  was  too  much  like 
our  own,  or  any  other  congregational  form,  to  satisfy  my 
wishes  or  expectations.     The  prayers  were  extempore  ;  one 
of  them,  addressed  directly  to  Jesus,  was  highly  dramatic, 
and,  despite  its  fervor,  offensive  to  my  feelings.     So  bald  a 
piece  of  anthropological  worship  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
heard  from  any  other  thoughtful  and  accomplished  divine. 


276  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Certainly,  neither  the  Episcopal  nor  the  Catholic  Church 
would  venture  on  any  such  protracted  and  exclusive  prayer 
to  Jesus,  to  the  absolute  forgetfulness  of  the  Infinite  Spirit. 
The  other  prayer  was  addressed  to  God,  the  Father,  and  I 
was  able  to  join  in  it  with  sympathy  and  satisfaction.  The 
sermon  (the  whole  service  was  of  course  in  French)  was  from 
the  words  "  Heiireiix  les  debonnaires  pour  les  inherirent  la 
terre."  I  had  quite  forgotten  that  the  French  had  no  better 
word  for  the  meek  than  " les  debonnaires"  and  it  hardly  sur- 
prised me  that  M.  Monod  should  find  it  so  hard  work  to  ex- 
plain how  the  ''  debonnaire  "  were  to  inherit  the  earth.  This 
celebrated  preacher  has  a  charming  and  saintly  countenance, 
sharpened  by  labors  and  self-denials.  He  is  apparently 
about  sixty-five  years  old,  with  a  benevolent,  drooping  nose, 
a  bright  yet  tender  eye,  a  little  bald  but  with  abundant  hair, 
grey  and  soft,  an  expressive  mouth,  a  voice  sweet  and  plaint- 
ive, which  he  swings  through  all  the  minor  keys,  an  earnest, 
half-dramatic  manner,  wide  and  graceful  gestures,  and  a  pres- 
ence altogether  lovely  and  revereable.  He  preached  extem- 
pore, though  not  without  careful  preparation,  and,  I  think, 
from  skeleton  notes.  His  enunciation  was  so  slow  and  clear 
that  I  was  able  to  follow  him  perfectly,  and  really  lost  noth- 
ing of  his  meaning,  and  hardly  any  thing  of  his  beauty  and 
eloquence. 

The  sermon  was  a  model  of  Scriptural  preaching,  so  far 
as  that  consists  in  adherence  to  the  words  of  the  Bible,  and 
an  argument  compacted  from  assuming  an  absolute  identity 
in  the  authority  and  an  unbroken  unity  in  the  argument  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments — the  greatest  power  and  the 
greatest  vice  of  Orthodox  hermeneutics.  He  began  with 
criticising  the  disposition  which  some  ingenious  but  danger- 
ous innovators  had  shown  to  explain  away  the  apparent  con- 
tradiction of  the  text,  by  showing  that  a  yielding  temper  and 


The  Heritage  of  the  Meek.  277 

a  policy  of  concession  was  actually  more  favorable  to  worldly 
success  than  a  violent,  grasping  or  energetic  will.  He  main- 
tained, on  the  contrar}^,  that  "  the  earth  "  to  which  the  Evan- 
gelist referred  was  not  this  world,  but  that  "  promised  land  " 
in  the  skies,  of  which  the  promised  land  sought  by  Abraham 
was  only  a  type.  He  adduced  at  much  length  Abraham's 
history,  and  specially  his  amicable  division  of  the  land  with 
Lot — to  avoid  scandal  and  unkindness,  not  from  softness 
or  policy — as  a  tj'pe  of  the  kind  of  meekness  which  would 
really  inherit  the  earth.  It  was  the  surrender  of  earthly 
advantages  and  policies,  for  God's  sake,  in  the  spirit  of  faith, 
and  in  the  confidence  of  better  things  reserved  for  love  and 
obedience  —  which  alone  deserved  the  name  of  Christian 
meekness  —  the  meekness  that  should  inherit  the  earth. 
Moses,  Christ,  Paul  were  meek,  but  they  could  threaten  and 
judge  and  use  the  severest  condemnations.  There  was 
nothing  soft,  pusillanimous,  compromising  in  their  spirits, 
traits  which  so  often  appeared  in  the  meekness  of  the  self- 
seeking.  Christians  must  not  expect  worldly  success,  nor  an 
easy  life,  nor  an  avoidance  of  strife  and  oppositions,  persecu- 
tions and  death ;  they  must  not  hope  for  peace  and  prosperi- 
ty ;  they  must  live  in  the  spirit  of  the  apostles  and  martyrs,  if 
they  hoped  to  inherit  that  earth  which  was  alone  in  Jesus's 
thoughts  in  his  glorious  beatitude.  After  illustrating  this 
idea  very  fully,  the  preacher  referred,  in  closing,  to  the  attacks 
on  the  unworldly  spirit  and  character  of  Christianity  lately 
made  in  the  name  of  human  progress  and  a  tenderer  humani- 
ty, a  false  liberty  and  a  base  secularism.  He  rejoiced  in  the 
triumphs  of  political  freedom,  of  industrial  improvements, 
of  pacific  policies  \  but  any  dependence  on  these  for  Chris- 
tian perfection,  individual  or  social,  was  delusive.  These  were, 
indeed,  lesser  fruits  of  divine  grace,  charity  and  faith — but 
not  their  chief  harvest,  which  lay  in  the  future  rewards  await- 


278  llie  Old  World  in  its  Nezu  Face. 

ing  the  just.  He  gave  a  blow,  not  less  felt  for  being  left- 
handed  and  indirect,  at  the  late  Peace  Congress,  for  its  attacks 
on  Christianity,  and  considered  the  seances  of  the  Salle  de  la 
Reformation,  in  which  his  audience  and  himself  had  assisted, 
as  providential  in  their  character  and  their  date,  following  so 
soon  upon  the  infidel  explosions  of  the  philanthropists  who 
had  ignored  the  Prince  of  Peace.  He  apostrophized  Geneva, 
by  its  ancient  morals,  its  honor  of  Calvin,  and  its  place  in  the 
Reformation,  to  be  faithful  to  the  great  doctrines  and  prin- 
ciples of  an  Evangelical  faith ;  and  then  he  apostrophized 
France,  by  its  Huguenot  blood,  and  its  great  and  sacred  mar- 
tyrs for  purity  of  doctrine  and  holiness,  not  to  allow  worldli- 
ness,  materialism  and  secular  ambition  to  drown  its  spiritual- 
ity and  faith  in  Him  who  would  give  only  to  the  truly  meek 
in  spirit  and  in  faith  the  heritage  of  this  world  purified  from 
sin,  and  a  better  world  in  the  skies. 

There  was  great  warmth  and  eloquence,  simplicity  and 
truth,  in  this  discourse.  It  was  not  pointed  or  brought  home 
to  the  conscience  or  the  affections  as  it  might  have  been ; 
but  the  personality  of  the  preacher  was  so  charming  and 
saintly  that  it  took  the  place  of  appeal,  almost  as  much  as  ex- 
ample takes  away  the  need  of  precept.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  the  doctrine  was  not  as  high-toned  as  it  should 
have  been.  M.  Monod  seemed  to  forget  that  Jesus  ignored 
time  and  space  in  his  teachings,  placed  the  kingdom  of  God 
within,  and  made  the  real  inheritance  the  actual  possession 
of  a  Christ-like,  or  rather  God-like,  temper  and  spirit.  The 
meek,  in  inheriting  a  true  notion  of  life  and  in  adopting  it,  win 
at  one  stroke  time  and  eternity,  this  world  and  all  worlds,  for 
they  win  God  and  dwell  in  him,  and  own  all  he  owns.  The 
hymns  were  poor,  in  a  sort  of  Methodistic  sensualism  of  sen- 
timent, which  is  unworthy  a  cultivated  and  spiritual  taste. 

After  this  service  we  went  to  the  Greek  church,  a  beauti- 


A   Greek  Church.  279 

ful  edifice  of  white  stone,  nearly  square,  with  a  square  clere- 
story and  crowned  with  fine  pear-shaped  and  gilded  domes, 
each  surmounted  with  the  cross  springing  ft-om  a  crescent. 
From  the  arms  of  each  cross  extend  gilded  chains,  which  are 
attached  to  its  dome.  The  Oriental  origin  and  character  of 
the  church,  which  might  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  Turkish 
mosque,  or  a  Persian  kiosk,  is  very  apparent.  The  interior  is 
even  more  Eastern,  being  a  square,  richly  carpeted,  and  with- 
out seats,  except  against  the  walls.  It  is  frescoed  in  the 
richest  blues,  greens  and  gold,  in  arabesque  patterns,  and 
adorned  with  a  picture  of  Christ  on  the  ceiling  and  on  the 
wall,  and  others  of  apostles  and  saints,  especially  one  of  Saint 
Alexander,  a  Russian  prince,  canonized  for  having  built  the 
first  bridge  across  the  Neva.  The  altar  is  separated  from 
the  auditorium  by  a  wall  pierced  with  five  arches  in  white 
marble,  through  which  open  three  doors.  Behind  the  double 
open-worked  central  door  hang  thick  curtains,  which  are 
drawn  before  it  is  opened.  The  service  began  when  not  a 
dozen  persons  were  in  the  gem-like  place,  with  g,  muttering 
as  of  prayers,  by  a  voice  concealed  behind  "  the  veil  of  the 
temple."  We  understood  from  a  Russian  lady,  neighbor  to 
us,  that  these  were  special  prayers  for  the  sick  or  separated, 
and  not  a  part  of  the  public  service.  At  eleven  o'clock  a 
deacon  in  plain  clothes  took  his  place  before  the  door  of  the 
altar,  with  his  back  to  the  audience,  and  commenced  reading 
out  of  a  liturg}',  in  a  guttural,  yet  not  unmelodious  tone,  with 
a  curious  prolongation  of  the  final  syllables,  like,  yet  differ- 
ent from,  the  Roman  Catholic  intoning.  After  awhile  the 
reading  was  taken  up  by  the  invisible  priest  on  the  inside, 
and  then  commenced  a  responsive  service  between  him  and 
the  deacon,  who  seemed  to  act  as  the  clerk  in  the  English 
service,  except  that  he  had  a  great  deal  of  going  in  and  out 
to  do,  lighting  candles  and  carrying  them  about,  and  chang- 


28o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ing  their  positions.  Presently,  with  a  congregation  which 
was  gathering  and  slowly  increasing,  came  in  four  men  from 
out-doors,  who  took  their  places  one  side  on  a  little  raised 
•and  enclosed  platform  outside  the  altar,  and  began  to  sing 
the  responses  to  the  priest  in  a  choral  harmony  which  was 
exquisite  in  its  chords  and  in  the  voices  of  the  singers,  but 
became  finally  fearfully  monotonous  from  a  continual  repe- 
tition of  the  same  phrases.  The  "  God  be  merciful  to  us 
sinners,"  or  "  Lord  help  us  to  keep  this  law,"  could  not  be 
more  tedious  in  the  repetitious  portion  of  the  English  serv- 
ice. Presently,  the  curtain  was  drawn  and  the  doors  opened, 
and  a  young  man,  in  carefully-dressed  hair  and  beard,  of  a 
pleasant  and  devout  face,  presented  himself  in  gorgeous  ap- 
parel— the  priest  whose  voice,  deep  and  gentle,  we  had  been 
so  long  hearing.  He  had  on  a  rich  white  under-tunic,  girded 
with  a  sash  which  reached  to  his  feet,  and  over  this  a  mag- 
nificent blue  silk  robe,  covered  with  golden  crosses,  with  a 
hem  of  gold  lace,  and  a  cape  or  cope  of  stiff,  plain  cloth  of 
gold.  About  his  neck  hung  a  heavy  gold  cross.  This  gor- 
geous and  elegant  figure,  who  looked  like  a  monarch  pre- 
pared for  his  coronation,  had  a  laborious  work  to  perform. 
The  service  consisted  in  a  long  order  of  prayers,  whose  vir- 
tue depended  apparently  on  the  position  in  which  they  were 
said,  so  that  the  priest  was  walking  about  a  great  deal,  now 
in  at  one  door  and  out  of  another,  now  visible  and  now  in- 
visible, sometimes  with  the  main  door  closed,  and  sometimes 
open.  He  swung  the  censer  from  time  to  time  at  the  altar, 
the  pictures  and  the  people.  •  He  bowed  to  the  very  ground, 
and,  if  I  mistake  not,  kissed  it.  He  brought  out  a  Greek 
missal  with  great  ceremony,  into  the  cover  of  which  five 
miniature  pictures  were  set,  and  laid  it  on  the  altar.  He  ex- 
hibited the  vessels  of  communion,  covered  with  gold  lace, 
several  times  in  the  service,  and  apparently  took  the  com- 


Infant  Commnnioti.  '       281 

munion  himself  at  a  certain  solemn  point,  when  the  Greek 
portion  of  the  congregation  were  bending  on  their  knees, 
their  faces  near  the  ground.  The  amount  of  crossing  done 
by  the  priest  and  the  people  was  something  incredible,  until 
seen.  Really,  the  arms  of  a  jumping-jack  could  hardly  be 
kept  in  more  active  motion  by  a  boy,  on  first  possession  of 
his  toy,  than  were  the  arms  of  the  devouter  portion  of  the 
worshipers  here.  Had  it  not  been  sacred  in  their  eyes,  it 
would  have  been  ludicrous  in  mine. 

Near  the  close  of  the  service,  a  child  of  perhaps  nine 
months  was  brought  forward  in  the  arms  of  a  pretty  young 
woman,  dressed  in  the  most  elaborate  way — in  a  sort  of 
glorification  of  the  peasant  dress  of  Russia — all  white  and 
blue,  with  a  gold  embroidered  blue  satin  cap,  who  almost 
eclipsed  the  priest.  After  the  young  woman  had  been  conse- 
crated by  some  ritual  process,  the  elements  of  the  commun- 
ion were  administered  with  a  spoon  to  the  babe !  The 
mother,  who  was  present,  did  not  approach  the  altar.  After 
this  short  but  very  peculiar  service,  the  nurse  and  child  re- 
tired. Before  the  service  was  fairly  through,  the  audience 
relaxed  the  strict  decorum  which  they  had  hitherto  preserved. 
The  priest,  having  himself  kissed  the  cross  (of  course  the 
crucifix  is  not  used),  extended  it  to  the  people,  who  quite 
generally  kissed  it,  and  while  this  was  going  on,  the  choir 
meanwhile  singing,  the  people  exchanged  salutations  and 
chatted,  as  if  the  "  opus  operatum  "  was  now  fully  perfected. 
The  congregation,  including  curious  strangers,  could  not 
have  been  over  one  hundred,  of  which  perhaps  half  were 
Russians.  The  two  types  of  national  face,  Scandinavian 
and  Tartar  —  one  fair-haired  and  well-featured,  the  other 
dark-complexioned,  with  crispish  hair  and  high  cheek-bones 
— were  apparent  in  the  congregation.  A  dozen  Russian 
children,  in   blue  blouses   and    loose   trousers   tucked   into 


282  The  Old  World  m  its  New  Face. 

iheir  boots,  or  with  velvet  tunics  and  white  sleeves,  gave  a 
charm  to  the  scene.  On  the  whole,  after  having  been  now 
three  times  to  the  Greek  Church,  once  in  Paris,  once  in 
Munich  and  once  in  Geneva,  I  am  impressed  with  its  decid- 
ed inferiority  in  aesthetic  and  ritual  effect  to  the  Catholic 
Church.  Notwithstanding  its  married  clergy  and  its  oppo- 
sition to  images,  its  spirit  and  aspect  are  more  obsolete  than 
Romanism,  and  it  seems  to  have  less  place  in  the  world  and 
less  power  to  accommodate  itself  to  circumstances.  The  co- 
quetry which  the  English  Church,  aided  by  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  is  practicing  with  the  Greek  Church,  is  an 
absurd  attempt  to  reconcile  things  that  have  no  real  sympa- 
thy. It  would  be  easier  to  effect  a  union  with  the  scholars 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  than  with  the  traditionists 
and  formalists  of  the  Greek  Church,  who  seem  to  have 
nothing  modern  in  spirit  or  manners.  Every  national  wor- 
ship is  interesting  and  instructive,  and  particularly  the  wor- 
ship of  so  vast  and  rising  a  people  as  the  Russians.  But  I 
never  have  shared  the  artificial  passion  for  an  alliance  be- 
tween Russia  and  America,  and  her  religion  is  an  indication 
of  the  utter  backwardness  of  the  nation,  and  of  the  dead 
weight  they  furnish  to  the  true  progress  of  civilization  and 
popular  enlightenment.  There  is  much  to  fear  for  all  Eu- 
rope from  their  overwhelming  numbers  and  ambition. 

Sunday  evening  we  attended  the  first  popular  meeting  for 
the  promotion  of  personal  religion,  held  in  the  "  Salle  de  la 
Reformation."  The  hall  was  full.  M.  Barde  presided  and 
opened  the  meeting  with  a  prayer  of  an  impassioned  and  dra- 
matic character,  accompanied  with  violent  gesticulations — as 
if  not  only  the  kingdom  of  heaven  but  the  divine  love  and 
compassion  were  to  be  taken  by  storm.  I  can  not  get  used 
to  the  Continental  fury  in  extempore  prayer.  It  seems  in- 
credible that  persons  realizing  the  divine  presence  should 


A  Hani  Speech.  283 

not  be  more  awed  and  subdued  by  it.  None  of  these  saintly 
men  would  venture  upon  a  tithe  of  the  familiarity  and  the 
abandon  they  show  to  the  Supreme  Being,  in  approaching  a 
little  German  duke  or  petty  sovereign.  After  some  good 
congregational  singing,  Rev.  Pasteur  Monod  was  introduced 
and  made  a  touching  and  attractive  application  of  the 
"  Come  unto  me  all  ye  who  labor  and  are  heavy-laden,  and 
I  will  give  rest  unto  your  souls."  "  Come  unto  Jesus  "  was  the 
key-note  of  the  occasion,  followed  up  by  all  the  speakers.  M. 
Monod  touched  the  Calvinistic  theory  very  clearly  but  lightly. 
He  was  followed  by  a  pastor  from  Berne  who  told  simple 
stories,  such  as  we  should  address  to  Sunday-school  audi- 
ences, but  with  the  implication  of  the  whole  Calvinistic  theo- 
ry. The  rough  work  of  this  international  "  Orthodox  "  meet- 
ing (for  France,  England  and  several  of  the  Swiss  cantons 
were  represented  specially)  was  given  to  a  Mr.  Baxter,  an 
English  layman,  a  man  of  sixty-five,  with  a  large  and  fine 
head,  confident  carriage,  great  boldness  and  naturalness, 
without  sentimentality  or  cant,  of  correct  utterance,  but  with 
a  terrible,  good-natured,  John  Bullish  narrowness  of  opinion 
and  dogmatic  certainty  and  definiteness,  embracing  the  whole 
Calvinistic  scheme  in  its  original  horrors,  unshaded,  unmodi- 
fied, unsoftened,  and  without  any  suspicion  apparently  of  any 
thing  not  wholly  lovely  and  genial  in  its  features.  He  pour- 
ed this  dogmatic  hot  lead,  drop  by  drop,  into  the  ears  of  the 
audience,  for  he  had  to  be  translated,  sentence  by  sentence, 
by  an  admirable  interpreter  who  did  his  best  to  soften  the 
dose,  although  his  faithfulness  did  not  allow  any  omission  of 
its  essential  vitriolic  ingredients.  It  was  wholly  doctrinal, 
and  chiefly  an  adroit  piecing  together  of  texts  from  all  parts 
of  the  New  Testament  showing  the  utter  ruin  and  condemna- 
tion of  every  human  soul,  the  purchase  of  their  forgiveness  by 
Christ's  blood,  and  their  free  offer  of  restoration  to  God's' fa- 


284  2'he  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

vor  and  eternal  life  by  the  acceptance  of  Christ  as  their 
Saviour.     The  horrid  literality  and  hardness  of  the  statement 
could  not  be  overstated.     The  self-righteousness  of  the  speak- 
er appeared  in  every  look  and  word,  despite  his  doctrine. 
He  seemed  to  say,  "  Look  at  me,  happy  Christian  that  I  am,  an 
Englishman,  an  educated  and  well-born  gentleman,  traveling 
for  pleasure,  clothed  in  these  nankeen  trowsers,  this  white  vest, 
this  handsome  coat — with  a  capital  dinner  inside  and  a  half- 
bottle  of  wine  to  moisten  it — look  at  me,  blessed  with  all  this, 
and  yet  sure  of  eternal  blessedness  and  everlasting  life,  and 
all  because  I  have  accepted  God's  offer  in  his  Son,  have  got 
his  bond  for  it  here  in  my  well-thumbed  Testament,  and  am 
going  to  hold  him  to  his  word."     "  I  am  a  stranger  to  you," 
he  said,  "  but  there  are  only  two  characters  in  this  assembly 
— saints  and  sinners — souls  bound  to  Jesus  and  to  heaven, 
souls  bound  to  sin  and  going  to  hell."     There  was  no  ex- 
citement, no  glow  in  the  address.     It  was  cold-blooded,  sin- 
cere, yet  wholly  self-mistaken  and  deceptive.     Had  this  Bax- 
ter had  any  of  the  temper  of  the  "  Saint's  Rest"  about  him, 
he  could  no  more  have  looked  and  talked  as  he  did  than  the 
true  mother  could  have  seen  her  child  cut  in  two  and  not 
cried  out  at  Solomon's  judgment.     Instead  of  a  comfortable 
dinner  on  Sunday  at  his  hotel,  this  gentleman  would — had  his 
heart  realized  what  his  head  was  affirming,  have  been  pulling 
every  door-bell  in  Geneva,  and  with  tears  and  entreaties  have 
begged   each   and  every  soul   to  flee  from   the  impending 
wrath.     There  was  a  manifest  uneasiness  on  the  platform  as 
this  gentleman  rubbed  in  his  cruel  lotion.     The  blisters  start- 
ed, but  they  were  not  those  of  wholesome  irritation.     All  ju- 
dicious friends  even  of  Calvinism  must  have  felt  the  impolicy 
of  such  literal  and  offensive  plainness.     The  audience  seem- 
ed wearied  and  worried,  but  although  he  looked  at  his  watch 
thi'ee  or  four  times,  it  was  only  to  protract  the  anguish  of  his 


The  True  Gospel.  ■•         285 

hearers.  He  had  this  prepared  dose  to  administer,  and  he 
gave  it  to  the  last  scruple,  and  sat  down  with  the  most  cheer- 
ful aspect  of  having  performed  a  most  agreeable  duty  in  a 
most  acceptable  manner. 

A  young  man  from  canton  Vaud  followed  him  with  a  ten- 
der speech,  proving  how  the  same  doctrine  might  be  taught 
with  far  greater  effect,  because  with  genuine  sympathy.  I 
confess  that  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  had  receded  into  the  six- 
teenth century.  I  think  a  few  more  seances,  with  Mr.  Baxter 
present,  would  arouse  a  reaction  against  Calvinism  which 
would  undo  ten  times  over  all  that  the  "  Salle  de  la  Reforma- 
tion" has  been  able  to  accomplish  in  the  way  of  honor  to 
Calvin's  memory  and  principles.  Why  can  not  Christians, 
who  hope  to  make  the  Gospel  acceptable  to  the  race  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  see  that  they  must  show  it  to  be  more 
credible,  rational,  humane,  just,  free  from  caprice  and  worthy 
of  infinite  love,  than  any  human  system  of  faith  and  ethics  ? 
Surely  it  is  so,  or  honest  and  brave  men,  unselfish  and  de- 
voted to  their  great  brotherhood,  would  disown  it  as  a  supersti- 
tion, an  antiquated  prejudice  and  an  undivine  pretension. 
Thank  God,  Jesus  Christ  is  not  of  the  mind,  never  was  of  the 
mind  of  these  perverters  of  his  simplicity !  Thank  God,  the 
real  Gospel  is  broad,  free,  generous,  patient  and  humane  !  It 
is  eternal,  because  it  has  no  corrupting  principle  of  narrow- 
ness, nothing  capricious,  arbitrary,  or  dependent  on  mere  crit- 
ical and  scholastic  science  in  its  composition.  Bless  God, 
Calvinism  will  never  succeed  in  substituting  its  cast-iron  im- 
age for  the  living  shape  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  friend  of 
sinners  and  the  universal  bishop  of  souls  ! 

There  are  two  theological  schools  in  Geneva.  The  prin- 
cipal one,  under  the  control  of  what  is  called  "  The  Faculty 
of  National  Theology,"  has  five  Professors,  all  originally  pas- 
tors of  the  National  Church.     Their  names  are  as  follows  ; 


2  86  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Munier,  Professor  of  Hebrew  ;  Chastel,  Professor  of  Eccle- 
siastical History  (the  author  of  various  excellent  and  cele- 
brated works) ;  Oltramare,  Professor  of  Exegesis  ;  Bouvier, 
of  Dogmatics  ;  Cougnard,  of  Homiletics.  Of  these,  four  are 
emphatically  liberal,  that  is  to  say,  in  sympathy  with  Unita- 
rian views.  Bouvier  is  Orthodox-liberal,  and  occupies  essen- 
tially the  position  of  Pressense.  The  students  (the  term  is 
four  years)  are  divided  into  two  classes  of  persons  ;  first,  candi- 
dates for  the  pulpits  of  the  Genevan  National  Church,  of 
whom  there  are  only  six  or  seven  ;  and  secondly,  students 
from  France,  candidates  for  the  pulpit  of  the  French  Nation- 
al Protestant  Church,  of  whom  they  are  usually  fifty  or  sixty. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  French  Protestant  Church 
has  two  theological  schools  at  home,  one  in  Strasburg,  the 
other  in  Montauban  •  but  Geneva  educates  the  largest  num- 
ber of  her  ministers.  The  cost  of  a  theological  education  in 
Geneva  is  about  1200  francs  ($250  gold)  per  year.  There 
is  a  charity  fund,  created  two  centuries  ago,  which  affords 
about  600  francs  a  year  to  each  student  needing  it.  The 
professors  receive  only  1800  francs  a  year  !  Their  support 
and  that  of  the  pastors  of  the  Genevan  Church  is  principally 
derived  from  another  fund,  which  was  contributed  by  French 
Protestants  soon  after  Calvin's  time.  The  pastors  have  a 
meagre  salary  of  3700  francs,  less  than  ^800.  They  can  not 
live  upon  it,  and  are  obliged  to  resort  to  other  means  of  sup- 
port. There  is  a  fund  for  the  relief  of  retired  pastors.  The 
other  theological  school  is  of  comparatively  recent  date,  and 
was  mainly  inspired  by  Merle  d'Aubigne.  There  is  what  is 
called  a  Societe  Evangelique  in  Geneva,  which  is  thirty- 
six  years  old.  It  is  made  up  mainly  of  Dissidents  from  the 
National  Church,  who  desire  a  Calvinistic  creed  in  its  origi- 
nal strictness  and  narrowness.  It  has  a  theological  school, 
of  which  Messrs.  La  Harpe,  Binder,  C.  Pronier  and  Tissot 


Troubles  of  Protestantism.  287 

are  professors,  and  Merle  d'Aubigne  is  president.  It  has  a 
department  of  foreign  missions  ;  a  department  of  Biblical 
work  and  colportage  ;  of  home  missions,  with  foreign  corre- 
spondents in  Scotland,  England,  America,  Germany,  France 
and  Belgium.  The  Rev.  Messrs.  I.  Proudfit,  Dr.  Cox,  Dr. 
Sprague,  Alex.  Proudfit,  are  among  its  American  correspond- 
ents. Its  annual  expenses  are  about  150,000  francs  ;  of  this 
amount  Geneva  supplied,  the  last  year,  over  41,000  francs, 
Scotland  22,000,  England  16,000,  America  15,000,  Holland 
13,000,  Ireland  about  8000,  France  5000,  and  the  residue 
came  from  legacies  and  the  Swiss  cantons.  The  number 
of  students  was  forty-nine,  of  whom  twenty-three  were  French, 
thirteen  Swiss,  and  the  rest  from  various  countries  —  one 
from  Italy,  one  from  Spain,  one  from  Russia,  two  from 
Ireland ;  nineteen,  however,  are  in  the  preparatory  school. 
There  is  no  open  strife  between  the  Dissidents  and  the  Na- 
tional Church,  nor  between  the  Liberal  and  Orthodox  party 
in  the  National  Church.  The  moral  division  and  open  an- 
tagonism which  exist  in  the  French  Protestant  Church  has 
not  yet  occurred  in  Geneva — but  of  course  this  has  been  main- 
ly due  to  the  vent  provided  in  the  existence  of  a  dissenting 
organization,  which  has  as  many  churches  as  the  National 
Church.  The  most  popular  preachers  in  the  National  Church 
are  Orthodox,  Messrs.  Coulin  and  Tourmay.  Brett,  Oltra- 
mare,  Richard,  Guillermet,  Viollier,  are  reckoned  Liberal, 
and  are  popular  preachers,  also.  It  is  evident  that  Protest- 
antism has  hard  work  to  maintain  its  positive  character,  and 
to  make  itself  effective  anywhere  out  of  Geneva  and  Paris. 
There  is  much  excuse  for  the  alarm  which  its  friends  feel, 
and  for  their  endeavors  to  harden  its  shell  by  reviving  the 
old  dogma.  But  the  success  is  small.  On  the  other  hand, 
Liberal  Christianity  does  not  visibly  flourish  any  better ; 
the  tendency  is  to  no  Christianity.     And  this  makes  even 


2  88  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  Liberals  cautious  and  self-distrustful.  The  ignorance 
touching  our  American  Unitarianism  seems  dense  ;  and  it  is 
very  important  that  a  positive  sympathy  should  be  created 
by  a  better  mutual  acquaintance.  The  Theological  School 
in  Geneva  ought  to  be  furnished  freely,  and  at  the  expense 
of  the  American  Unitarian  Association,  with  all  our  theolog- 
ical literature,  and  with  our  reviews  and  newspapers.  Rev. 
Pastor  Viollier,  No.  3  Rue  Tabazan,  Geneva,  would  gladly 
receive  them  and  see  them  properly  commended  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  professors,  pastors  and  students  in  theology. 
I  commend  the  suggestion  with  the  utmost  earnestness  to 
the  attention  of  the  Board  of  the  American  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation, and  especially  to  my  friend  Rev.  Charles  Lowe,  its 
ever  enterprising,  judicious  Secretary. 

The  most  interesting  place  in  Geneva  is  the  public  Libra- 
ry, founded  by  Calvin,  and  containing  precious  mementoes 
of  the  Reformers — beautiful  MSS.  of  the  tenth  century  down- 
ward ;  copies  of  St.  Augustine's  sermons,  made  in  the  sixth 
and  seventh  centuries,  on  papyrus,  in  uncial  letters ;  Greek 
Liturgies  in  rolls ;  letters  of  Luther,  Calvin,  Knox,  Melanch- 
thon,  Beza,  Henry  the  Fourth's  original  order  for  the  execu- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  ;  a  kind  of  Encyclopaedia  of  Bru- 
nette, the  friend  and  master  of  Dante  ;  and  many  autographic 
remains  of  J.  J.  Rousseau,  with  a  table  once  in  his  use.  One 
very  suggestive  antiquity  was  a  map  of  the  world,  made  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  America  —  in  1476  —  where  the  great 
space  now  occupied  by  the  Western  Hemisphere  presents 
not  so  much  a  void  as  an  absolute  nothingness,  as  if  such  a 
thing  as  another  half  of  the  world  were  not  even  missed,  or 
suspected  of  existence.  The  library  possesses  a  great  num- 
ber of  original  and  authentic  portraits  of  the  Reformers,  and 
the  princes  who  befriended  them.  Among  these  Zwingle, 
with  his  protruding  under-lip  ;  Melanchthon,  looking  so  much 


Portrait  of  Calvin.  289 

like  dear  Henry  Ware  ;  Huss,  with  his  nose  and  forehead 
straight  as  a  line  ;  Wickliffe,  looking  like  a  Jewish  Rabbi. 
Beza,  most  modern  of  all  in  style  of  face,  specially  interested 
me.  All  the  portraits  of  Luther  are  coarse  and  unsatisfac- 
tory, not  to  say  self-disproved.  But  the  immediate  jewel  of 
the  collection  is  an  authentic  portrait  of  Calvin,  which  looks 
as  Calvin  ought  to  have  looked,  and  which  you  feel  to  be  the 
man  him.self.  It  is  of  a  man  of  fifty,  with  a  round  cap  (not  a 
skull-cap),  but  a  cap  with  a  flat  round  top  above  the  band 
which  goes  round  the  head,  and  with  side  lappets  covering 
the  ears,  not  untypical  of  one  who  listened  to  few  outside 
voices  and  had  his  ears  on  the  inside.  His  face  is  refined, 
but  hard  as  steel ;  his  sharp  nose,  in  line  with  long,  retreat- 
ing forehead,  looks  like  a  weapon  ;  his  lips  are  thin  and  his 
mouth  compressed.  He  has  one  hand  on  the  Bible  and  the 
other  raised,  with  a  finger  laying  down  the  law  and  pointing 
to  its  source  above  at  the  same  time.  There  is  nothing 
warm  in  the  portrait  except  the  fur  that  borders  the  cape 
and  collar  of  his  robe.  It  is  the  figure  of  a  scholar,  gentle- 
man and  leader,  polished,  elegant,  uncompromising,  narrow, 
stern,  cold,  but  with  a  will  which  no  passion  could  render 
more  vehement  and  firm. 

There  were  portraits  of  Turrettin,  Claude  the  antagonist 
of  Bossuet ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  see  the  names  of  the  old 
pastors  who  succeeded  Calvin's  time  re-appearing  in  their 
children's  children,  still  in  the  ministry.  There  is  a  Turret- 
tin  of  the  present  day  among  the  ministers  of  Geneva,  I  think. 
I  must  not  forget  an  original  letter  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's, 
dated  Oct.  22,  1722  (addressed  to  Prof.  Arland,  at  Geneva, 
Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Painting),  a  photographic 
copy  of  which  has  just  been  sent  to  London,  on  account  of 
its  bearing  on  the  controversy  which  has  lately  arisen  touch- 
ing Pascal's  alleged  claims  to  the  chief  honors  Newton  has 

N 


290  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

so  long  worn.  The  canopy  under  which  Calvin  and  Knox 
preached  so  often,  is  still  hanging  over  the  pulpit  of  St.  Pe- 
ter's, and  a  chair  in  which  Calvin  sat  as  Professor  of  Theol- 
ogy is  to  be  seen  there.  I  sat  in  it,  with  strange  feelings  of 
reverence  for  the  man  and  aversion  for  his  opinions.  But 
surely  he  was  a  great  and  ever-memorable  personality. 

The  most  honored  living  citizen  of  Switzerland  is  doubt- 
less General  Dufour.  For  thirty-two  years  he  labored  and 
brought  to  perfection,  not  many  years  ago,  the  survey  on 
which  he  has  made  the  exquisitely  beautiful  map  of  Switzer- 
land, doubtless  the  most  perfect  natural  map  in  the  world.  It 
is  a  perfect  work  of  art,  as  well  as  a  great  victory  of  science. 
The  surveys,  from  the  nature  of  the  country,  involved  enor- 
mous difficulties  and  exposures.  One  of  his  assistants  was 
killed  by  lightning,  another  fell  from  a  precipice.  This  map 
should  be  in  all  colleges.  It  is  in  twenty-five  leaves,  and 
costs  about  ten  dollars  here.  A  similar  work  would  cost 
twice  as  much  in  America.  But  this  is  only  one  of  General  Du- 
four's  titles  to  respect.  He  has  been  the  most  honored  sol- 
dier of  his  day  in  the  country,  and  the  head  of  the  army ;  the 
head  also  of  every  benevolent  and  generous  enterprise.  He 
was  the  shaper,  it  is  said,  of  the  present  French  Emperor, 
his  tutor  and  governor.  I  found  him  a  venerable  man  of 
over  seventy — genial,  highly  informed,  most  kind  in  his  judg- 
inents,  and  tender  even  of  those  who  had  wronged  him.  He 
thought  great  things  were  to  come  out  of  the  American  war,  and 
congratulated  the  country  on  its  charity  to  the  soldiers,  its 
firmness  in  trial  and  its  moderation  in  victory.  Switzerland 
is  poor,  and  pays  her  benefactors  illy,  so  far  as  money  goes  ; 
but  in  every  chalet  and  inn,  if  you  see  any  picture,  not  relig- 
ious, it  is  the  picture  of  General  Dufour. 


XXV. 


GENEVA    AND     STRASBURG, 


Switzerland,  October  3,  1867. 

/^  ENEV A  is  a  most  difficult  city  of  its  size  to  find  one's 
way  about  in.  It  is  built  on  so  many  different  levels, 
and  these  are  approached  by  so  many  flights  of  steps,  now- 
covered  and  now  open,  going  down  from  out-of-the-way 
corners,  and  coming  out  at  the  most  unexpected  places. 
Many  of  its  streets  are  as  crooked  as  snakes,  and  not  much 
wider  than  anacondas.  The  new  part  of  the  town,  however, 
is  on  a  fine,  open  scale,  and  there  is  abundant  room  for  a 
great  spread.  A  wide  common  on  the  south  (a  military  pa- 
rade, I  suppose)  reminds  one  of  Salem  Common,  and  one  of 
the  suburbs  on  the  Chambery  road  gives  pleasant  souvenirs  of 
Roxbury.  Under  the  high  terrace,  on  which  stand  the  "  Mai- 
sons  de  Salon  " — the  term  my  coachman  used  in  designating 
an  elevated  range  of  aristocratic-looking  houses — is  the  spot 
(bet^veen  the  Theatre  and  the  "  Musee  Roth  ")  where  execu- 
tions are  conducted,  and  where,  within  four  years,  the  guillo- 
tine has  been  used.  Two  men,  one  in  1862,  one  in  1863, 
were  executed  by  this  process  for  murder  ;  another  was  shot 
in  the  Park  adjoining,  for  stealing  zvaUhes — a  very  mortal 
offense  in  Geneva.  The  wonderful  resemblance  in  customs 
of  Geneva  to  Paris  is  carried  out  by  the  existence  of  an  island 
in  the  Rhone,  like  the  island  in  the  Seine,  on  which  a  part 
of  the  city  is  built.  The  Rhone,  more  blue  and  swifter  every 
time  one  looks  at  it,  supplies  water  of  the  purest  kind  for  the 


292  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

city.  A  hundred  women  are  every  day  seen  there  washing  the 
clothes  of  the  people,  and  such  a  wash-tub  was  never  yet  seen  ! 
It  seems  impossible  to  communicate  impurity  to  its  swift 
water.  One  might  as  well  hope  to  corrupt  Niagara  by  spong- 
ing coats  in  it.  Such  views  of  Mont  Blanc  as  open  from  the 
doors  of  the  Hotels  de  la  Paix,  Des  Bergues  and  Beau  Rivage, 
are  marvelous  !  Seen,  too,  through  the  opening  between  the 
little  and  big  Saleve,  the  prospect  is  charming.  The  en- 
virons are  superb — sprinkled  with  country  houses  and  gar- 
dens. Coppet  and  Ferneay  are  still  visited,  although  the 
public  are  not  admitted  to  see  Madame  de  Stael's  tomb. 
The  house  is  occupied  by  a  Baron  de  Stael  and  by  the  Due 
de  Broglie.  At  Ferneay  may  be  seen  traces  of  Voltaire,  and 
none  less  agreeable  than  the  church  with  its  impudent  in- 
scription— '■'■Deo  erexit  Voltaire."  The  Jura  range  with  its 
level  outline,  and  the  Saleve,  in  the  soft  blue  of  the  distance, 
are  ravishing  features  of  the  town  scenery.  The  "  Athen^e  " 
has  a  few  good  pictures,  and  specially  one  group  of  statuary 
(below  life-size)  in  which  a  Sybil  with  a  Dantesque  face  is 
replying  to  a  fair  young  girl  who  bends  to  seek  guidance  from 
her  experience.  The  answer  written  in  her  face  is  also  in- 
scribed upon  a  tablet,  '■'•Qid  scit  cojnburere  aqua  et  lavare 
igne^facit  de  terra  cceliwi."  A  very  heathenish  answer  to  give 
a  young  heart  aspiring  to  happiness.  It  is  thus  giving  up 
humanity  and  its  terrestrial  home  which  has  excused  half 
the  sloth  and  lowness  of  aim  among  men,  both  in  religion 
and  philosophy.  But  Gughemy  of  Rome,  the  sculptor  (al- 
ways with  a  reserve  as  to  the  pettiness  of  the  size  he  has 
chosen  for  his  work),  has  done  capitally  in  this  design.  Di- 
day,  the  teacher  of  Calame,  is  still  living  and  painting.  Ca- 
lame,  a  great  loss,  died  four  years  ago.  The  trees  in  Gene- 
va all  recall  his  pencil,  especially  those  heavy  Norway  pines 
in  the  Botanic  garden.     He  painted  gloomy,  rugged  nature 


Art  i?i   Genei'a.  293 

with  absolute  exactness.  Loppe  has  two  fine  pictures,  in 
which  the  exquisite  blue  of  the  glaciers  is  thoroughly  caught 
in  tone.  Adolphe  Potter  (it  is  pleasant  to  find  that  name  re- 
appearing in  art)  has  two  rich,  original  landscapes  of  bold 
and  masterly  coloring,  small  but  of  great  contents.  A.  Veil- 
Ion  has  one  landscape.  There  are  a  few  generous  patrons  of 
art  in  Geneva,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  a  workshop  of  ideas  and 
watches,  not  an'  atelier  of  fine  arts.  The  confluence  of  the 
Arve  and  Rhone  is  a  striking  scene,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  view  of  Geneva  and  the  Saleve.  The  Rhone  shoul- 
ders its  dark  and  vulgar  neighbor  aside  with  all  the  pride  of 
the  "  sang  azur."  Its  blue  veins  shudder  at  the  contact  with 
the  coarse,  cloudy  blood  of  the  Arve.  Yet  both  rivers  flow 
by  different  valleys  from  one  range  of  pure  mountain-tops. 
It  was  suggestive  to  see  a  black  swan  in  the  Rhone,  divided 
from  the  white  and  brown  swans  by  a  fence  of  wire,  and 
pecking  at  her  aristocratic  sisters  through  the  web  !  Only, 
with  her  coral  beak  and  ebony  coat,  she  looked  much  the 
more  princely. 

Being  delayed  in  Geneva  a  day  longer  than  I  intended  by 
the  illness  of  an  American  gentleman,  whose  family  interested 
me  greatly,  I  had  one  more  opportunity  of  seeking  out  the 
Liberal  ministers  of  the  city,  and  was  so  happy  as  to  secure 
the  company  of  three  of  them  at  dinner  on  the  last  day  of  my 
stay — Messrs.  Cougnard,  Oltramare  and  Viollier.  We  were 
together  from  5  p.m.  till  8^,  and  hours  never  sped  more  swift- 
ly. We  had  to  carry  on  our  conversation  wholly  in  French, 
but  I  found  out  how  much  the  desire  to  communicate  with 
friends  unlocks  the  lips,  even  in  a  foreign  tongue.  After  an 
hour  we  all  really  forgot  that  we  were  not  talking  English, 
and  I  had  no  serious  difficulty  in  saying  all  I  desired,  .or  in 
understanding  every  thing  they  said  to  me.  Prof  Cougnard 
is  a  man  of  the  loveliest  and  most  engaging  countenance 


294  The  Old  World  in  its  JVew  Face. 

and  character.  He  reminded  me  of  Ephraim  Peabody. 
Prof.  Oltramare  is  a  great  favorite  with  the  Genevan  public. 
He  is  very  liberal,  but  not  as  radical  as  Cougnard.  Viollier 
is  a  Broad  Churchman,  who  believes  that  liberty  and  order 
in  religion  may  be  united,  and  that  the  aesthetic  need  not  be 
sacrificed  to  the  theological  element  in  public  worship.  I 
have  rarely  enjoyed  any  interview  with  kindred  spirits  more 
profoundly  and  gratefully  than  this.  I  confess  my  excite- 
ment was  too  great  to  be  often  risked.  It  was  so  thoroughly 
delightful  to  find,  in  a  place  wholly  strange  and  under  such 
different  circumstances,  ministers  perfectly  congenial  and  in 
absolute  religious  sympathy  with  our  own  dear  brotherhood. 
I  felt  as  if  I  had  to  pour  into  their  hearts,  in  one  great  flood, 
all  the  hoarded  love  and  confidence  our  whole  denomination 
must  feel  for  such  noble  and  liberal  souls,  and  to  receive 
back  a  tide  of  sympathy  which  belonged  to  my  brethren,  but 
which  I  had  to  hold  all  alone  within  the  flood-gates  of  my 
heart.  It  was  a  memorable  season  !  We  parted  as  dear 
friends,  and  with  mutual  vows  of  fidelity  and  co-operation.  I 
trust  that  none  of  our  ministers  will  visit  Geneva  without  an 
effort  to  see  our  clerical  brethren.  It  will  be  a  lasting  shame 
if  we  do  not  keep  up  the  communication,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered as  now  re-opened  after  being  closed  for  many  years. 
Thirty  years  ago  there  was  much  talk  of  our  Liberal  brethren 
at  Geneva.  There  is  much  more  reason  to  rejoice  in  their 
prospects  now,  and  to  cultivate  their  acquaintance. 

The  Religious  Tract  Society  of  London  has  published  a 
very  charming  little  volume — "  Footsteps  of  the  Reformers 
in  Foreign  Lands" — which  contains  a  passage  on  the  iio- 
ii6  pages,  which  we  feel  misrepresents  (under  the  influence 
of  religious  prejudice)  the  history  of  opinion  in  Geneva. 
After  stating  the  general  truth  that  Geneva  was  the  Ther- 
mopylae of  the  Reformation,  it  says  :  "  Before  the  end  of  the 


Religious  Thought  in  Geneva.  295 

eighteenth  century  her  pastors  and  professors  had  nearly 
abandoned  the  doctrines  of  the  Godhead  and  atonement  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  were  Arians  and  Socinians.  Her 
Sabbaths  were  profaned  and  trampled  under  foot.  On  God's 
holy  day  the  theatres  were  opened."  "The  names  of  Vol- 
taire and  Rousseau  were  held  in  higher  honor  than  those  of 
Farel  and  Calvin."  This  terrible  state  of  things  was  inter- 
rupted in  18 1 7  by  the  interposition  of  a  Scottish  layman, 
Mr.  Robert  Haldane,  whose  heart  was  greatly  stirred  by  the 
defalcation  from  faith  and  the  immorality  he  saw  about  him. 
He  sought  out  some  of  the  students  of  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary, and  in  spite  of  the  frowns  and  threats  of  the  Professors, 
soon  engaged  nearly  all  of  them  as  docile  hearers  of  a  course 
of  conversational  prelections  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
which  ended  in  the  conversion  of  not  a  few  of  them  to  Christ. 
Of  these  Rieu,  Pyt,  Gouthier  and  Adolph  Monod — all  de- 
parted— were  notable  instances,  and  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Gal- 
land,  Guers,  James  and  others  still  remain  to  testify  to  the 
thoroughness  of  Mr.  Haldane's  evangelical  influence.  Cae- 
sar Malan  and  Gaussen  were  even  then  pastors,  and  had 
not  strayed  from  Orthodoxy,  but  were  greatly  quickened  by 
Haldane.  Merle  d'Aubigne  has  stated  somewhere  (accord- 
ing to  this  book)  that  when  in  the  Seminary  he  presided  at 
a  meeting  of  the  theological  students  of  Geneva,  assembled 
in  the  "  Grand  Hall  "  to  consider  and  condemn  a  pamphlet 
which  vindicated  the  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 
But  afterward  meeting  Mr.  Haldane  at  a  private  house,  he 
heard  for  the  first  time,  in  his  comments  on  a  chapter  of  the 
Romans,  of  the  natural  corruption  of  man,  which  he  took  to 
heart  and  which  became  the  means  of  his  conversion  to  Cal- 
vinistic  Christianity. 

The  mixing  up  in  this  account  of  the  laxities  in  morals 
and  faith  which  followed  the  French  Revolution  with  the  Ari- 


296  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

an  or  Socinian  theology,  is  one  of  those  blundering  assump- 
tions which  bigotry  and  uncharitableness  are  so  often  guilty 
of.  Is  it  Socinianism  or  Arianism  which  keeps  the  theatre 
open  in  Geneva  on  the  Sundays  of  this  very  year,  1867  ? 
And  why  did  not  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  and  Farel — never 
preached  with  more  faithfulness  than  in  Geneva — so  recom- 
mend themselves  to  that  people,  once  so  wholly  under  their 
power,  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  infidelity  and  immorality 
to  take  possession  of  the  chosen  seat  of  the  evangelical  the- 
ology ?  If  the  question  of  social  order,  good  morals  and 
public  propriety  is  to  be  discussed  as  affected  by  Orthodoxy 
and  Unitarianism,  we  humbly  desire  to  be  fully  heard  before 
sentence  is  given.  It  is  our  deep  conviction  that,  whatever 
may  be  the  influence  of  our  Unitarian  faith  on  the  future 
fate  of  m.en — concerning  which  we  have  no  misgivings — its 
favorableness  to  veracity,  justice,  benevolence,  freedom,  de- 
corum, is  too  generally  recognized,  even  by  its  enemies,  to 
make  it  becoming  or  safe  to  associate  with  Unitarian  theol- 
ogy either  laxity  of  personal  morals  or  carelessness  of  public 
purity  and  order.  Any  defalcation  which  Geneva  at  any 
period  of  her  history  may  have  made  from  her  ancient  ascet- 
icism of  manners,  must  be  ascribed  to  the  fanaticism  of  her 
Calvinistic  teachers,  bringing  on  the  reaction  by  which  alone 
a  humane  and  a  wise  moderation  in  manners  is  restored  to 
a  long-repressed  and  perverted  humanity.  A  much  more 
specific  reply  might  be  made  to  the  weak  accusations  of  this 
injurious  comment  on  Liberal  Christianity  in  Geneva — but  it 
should  come  from  Geneva  itself 

BASLE. 

October  4. 

Basle  is  one  of  the  most  active  cities  in  Switzerland,  and 
has  a  large  amount  of  banking  capital.     Its  chief  manufact- 


Religion  in  Basle.  297 

ures  are  ribbons.     Looking  across  from  the  "  Trois  Rois," 
which  fronts  directly  on  the  Rhine,  we  can  see  not  only  the 
steam  of  these  factories,  but  the  bright  dyes  of  its  vats,  which 
color  the  threads  it  weaves  into  such  silken  rainbows,  stain- 
ing with  their  purples  and  yellow  the  blue  river  which  re- 
ceives their  waste.      The  streets  are   narrow  and  winding, 
and  present  a  great  appearance  of  antiquity.     The  old  Cath- 
olic churches,  excepting  the  cathedral,  have  fallen  into  secu- 
lar uses  and  decay.     The  impressive  and  very  ancient  cathe- 
dral is  in  excellent  repair  externally,  and  preserves  the  old 
cloisters  in  a  state  of  remarkable  beauty  and  interest.     It 
has  within  a  very  few  years  received  internally  a  costly  reno- 
vation, which  gives  it  the  appearance  of  an  almost  perfect 
newness  in  painful  contrast  with  its  venerable  exterior.     It  has, 
however,  been  more  successfully  converted  to  Protestant  use 
than  any  cathedral  I  have  yet  seen  on  the  Continent.     It  is 
honorable  to  the  Protestants  of  Basle  that  they  make  such  zeal- 
ous efforts  to  maintain  the  religion  they  received  from  their 
fathers.     It  is  not  in  vain  that  Erasmus's  ashes  rest  in  this 
church.     They  still  send  their  fragrance  through  the  old  city 
he  adopted  as  his  home.     A  very  costly  Protestant  church — 
stone  inside  and  out — with  a  parsonage  and  a  parish  school- 
house,  built  by  one  man — a  deceased  citizen  of  Basle — at  a 
cost  of  a  million  dollars,  is  an  indication  of  the  zeal  which 
animates  the  leading  citizens  of  this  place.    Doubtless  it  would 
be  a  better  augur}'  if  the  church  had  been  built  by  a  congre- 
gation uniting  the  voluntary  subscriptions  of  many  self-sacri- 
ficing hearts.     Basle  is  evangelical  in  its  Protestantism.     It 
inherits  a  certain  narrowness  from  the  early  guides  of  the  Re- 
formed faith,  who  took  under  severe  surveillance  the  domes- 
tic manners,  the  dress  and  the  diet  of  the  people.     Some- 
thing of  the  same  jealousy  of  personal  liberty  prevails  here 
still.     The  Museum  is  the  custodian  of  many  excellent  works 

N  2 


298  The  Old  World  in  Us  New  Face. 

of  Hans  Holbein — the  younger  and  more  celebrated  of  the 
two — the  father  and  son.  His  genius  was  remarkable  even 
at  fourteen,  and  is  testified  to  by  two  pictures,  of  bold  and 
original  drawing  and  coloring,  still  to  be  seen  here.  In  his 
admirable  drawings  and  paintings  a  genius  of  the  most 
marked  individuality  is  discovered,  the  most  definite  concep- 
tions worked  out  with  masterly  precision  and  in  a  spirit  full 
of  intelligence,  feeling  and  power.  His  reverence  for  truth 
was  greater  than  his  idealism,  and  he  had  no  phantoms  of 
beauty  and  delight  in  his  brain.  A  grim  humor  and  a  cruel 
faithfulness  are  seen  in  his  works,  His  Madonna  at  Dres- 
den is  the  only  evidence  that  beauty  had  ever  impressed 
him.  His  figure  of  the  dead  Christ,  laid  out  like  a  corpse 
straightened  for  burial,  is  one  of  the  most  terribly  real  of  all 
pictures  of  death  I  have  ever  seen  ;  but  while  it  avoids  the 
sentimentality  that  weakens  almost  all  other  pictures  of 
Christ,  dead  or  alive,  it  leaves  out  the  sacred  beauty  without 
which  a  dead  Christ  is  only  a  well-painted  corpse. 

There  is  here  a  beautiful  modern  picture  of  Diday,  the 
master  of  Calame — a  view  of  Lake  Brienz — which  justifies 
his  high  reputation.  He  still  lives  to  lament  his  more  dis- 
tingufshed  pupil,  Calame,  who  died  four  years  ago.  One  of 
his  best  pictures,  "  The  Wetter-horn,"  hangs  in  the  same  gal- 
lery at  Basle. 

I  went  out  to  see  the  government  "  Fish-hatching  "  institu- 
tion, about  five  miles  out  of  Basle,  on  the  route  to  Paris  and 
on  French  territory.  Here  for  ten  years  or  more  the  French 
government  have  maintained  a  very  careful,  scientific  and 
well-administered  establishment,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000  a  year, 
for  the  artificial  propagation  of  the  more  valuable  kinds  of 
fresh-water  fish.  Their  object  is  to  create  a  large  amount  of 
fish  eggs,  of  trout,  salmon,  perch,  etc.,  and  to  distribute  them 
gratuitously   to   those   who  will    engage   to.  plant   them  in 


Fish  Culture.  299 

streams,  lakes,  ponds,  not  only  in  France  but  in  her  colonies, 
in  order  that  the  product  of  fish  may  be  greatly  increased. 
The  arrangements  for  the  artificial  propagation  of  these  eggs 
is  a  very  delicate  and  skillful  operation.  It  consists  in  pro- 
curing the  spawn  of  the  fish,  and  passing  it  down  in  running 
streams  over  pans  which  are  floored  with  small  glass  tubes, 
each  about  the  size  of  a  knitting-needle.  The  spawn,  in 
passing,  catches  where  it  will  upon  these  glass  tubes,  and 
fastening  there,  is  ripened  into  well-developed  eggs,  in  about 
two  months,  in  streams  of  water  at  a  moderate  temperature. 
This  is  all  under  cover.  Although  the  end  of  the  establish- 
ment is  not  to  raise  fish,  but  only  eggs,  yet  a  certain  amount 
of  fish  is  raised,  probably  for  the  sake  of  their  spawn.  We 
were  shown  trout  at  all  stages  of  growth,  from  a  few  months 
to  five  years  old.  The  several  classes  were  separated  by 
wire  sieves  from  each  other.  The  least  neglect  as  to  the 
purity  of  the  water  or  its  active  motion  was  always  fatal  to 
many  of  the  fish.  The  trout  we  saw  were  admirably  grown. 
They  are  said  to  be  as  well-flavored  as  those  which  grow  nat- 
urally, but  are  not  so  hardy.  It  is  very  important  that  all 
the  art  of  Pisciculture  should  be  understood  in  America.  A 
son  of  the  geologist  Buckland  has  written  a  little  book  on 
the  subject,  which  persons  interested  in  restoring  the  fish  to 
the  New  England  rivers  should  procure. 

STRASBURG. 

October  6. 

Strasburg,  a  German-French  town,  was,  from  the  days  of 
the  Reformation,  a  wholly  Protestant  city,  until  Louis  XIV. 
forced  a  Catholic  population  upon  it,  which  has  increased  in 
our  days,  under  imperial  influences,  until  probably  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  people  are  Catholic.  Only  one  Catholic 
family  remained  here  after  the  Reformation.     Now  the  rich- 


300  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

est  and  poorest  part  of  the  population  are  Roman  Catholic. 
The  bourgeois,  containing  the  best  intelligence  and  worth  of 
the  public,  is  actively  Protestant,  and  maintains  its  religious 
life  with  such  zeal  as  an  Establishment  permits.  The  Prot- 
estant Church  in  Switzerland  and  in  France,  as  in  many 
other  parts  of  Europe,  is  cursed  with  State  support  and  State 
regulation.  If  every  vestige  of  this  fatal  protection  and 
guidance  were  swept  away,  and  all  the  existing  Churches  were 
to  perish,  Protestantism  would  revive  in  Europe  with  some- 
thing of  the  earnestness  it  now  possesses  in  America.  The 
national  support  is  only  a  clog  and  a  chill  ©n  Protestantism. 
The  people,  released  from  their  obligations  to  maintain  relig- 
ion of  their  own  free  wills,  and  at  their  own  cost,  are  without 
proper  emulation  or  spirit.  They  compose  their  differences 
of  opinion  under  false  and  mischievous  truces  and  compro- 
mises, or  are  like  people  of  wholly  dissimilar  tastes  united 
by  forced  marriages,  who  keep  up  before  company  an  ap- 
pearance of  union,  and  are  secretly  the  scourges  of  each 
other's  peace. 

One  of  the  two  theological  schools  of  the  French  Protest- 
ant Church  is  established  here,  on  an  old  foundation.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  old  "  Academie  de  Strasburg,"  and  is  styled 
"  Faculte  de  Theologie  de  la  Confession  d' Augsburg."  Its 
present  Professors  are  MM.  Jean  Frederic  Bruch,  Dean  of 
the  Faculty  ;  Edouard  Reuss,  Professor  of  Old  Testament 
Literature  and  Criticism  ;  Charles  Schmidt,  Professor  •  of 
Ecclesiastical  History  ;  Tomothee  Colani,  Professor  of  Prac- 
tical Theology  and  the  Art  of  Preaching  ;  Frederic  Lichten- 
berger,  Professor  of  Biblical  Ethics.  Of  these,  Bruch,  Reuss 
and  Colani  are  thoroughly  liberal  men  in  their  theology,  and 
in  full  sympathy  with  the  liberal  professors  at  Geneva.  The 
others  are  perhaps  mildly  "Orthodox."  Colani,  of  whom 
American    Liberal   Christian   scholars   have  heard   most,  is 


Theology  in  Sir  as  burg.  301 

probably  the  most  radical  in  his  opinions.  He  is  a  man  of 
extraordinary  spirituality,  of  most  various  and  versatile  at- 
tainments, and  capable  of  giving  lectures — as  he  does — ^both 
in  philosophy  and  theology.  He  is  also  an  excellent  math- 
ematician. About  forty -five  years  of  age,  he  was  for  many 
years  most  attractive  as  a  preacher,  and,  in  spite  of  his  ad- 
vanced opinions,  attracted  even  "  Orthodox  "  hearers  by  the 
charm  and  spirituality  of  his  preaching.  It  is  to  be  extreme- 
ly regretted  that  when  appointed  Professor,  about  three  years 
ago,  he  gave  up  preaching,  and  has  since  devoted  himself  ex- 
clusively to  his  lectures  to  the  students.  He  is  a  sufferer 
from  some  constitutional  lameness,  and  is  now,  vastly  to  my 
regret,  at  Ragatz,  Switzerland,  passing  his  vacation,  so  that 
I  shall  fail  to  see  him,  having  come  to  Strasburg  mainly  for 
that  purpose.  Prof  Reuss  is  most  highly  respected  for  his 
learning  and  liberality,  and  is  the  warm  personal  friend  of 
M.  Cougnard  of  Geneva  •  but  he  too  is  absent.  The  Dean 
of  the  Faculty,  Prof  Bruch,  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  two 
long  interviews  with,  and  he  has  entered  with  lively  sympathy 
into  the  desire  I  felt  to  establish  cordial  and  intelligent  rela- 
tions between  our  American  Liberal  theologians  and  our  Con- 
tinental congeners.  He  is  now  an  oldish  man — reminding 
me  not  a  little  of  Dr.  Lamson  at  sixty — a  truly  accomplished, 
enlightened  and  comprehensive  mind,  in  perfect  sympathy 
with  the  best  school  of  American  Unitarianism.  He  said 
great  pains  were  taken  abroad  to  represent  our  Unitarianism 
in  the  United  States  as  not  only  having  seen  its  best  days, 
but  as  fast  dying  out.  I  told  him  it  was  a  device  of  the  en- 
emy, and  that  really  we  were  never  so  strong  or  so  truly 
national  in  our  prospects  as  just  now,  at  which  he  expressed 
unbounded  satisfaction.  There  are  about  forty-five  theolog- 
ical students  here,  and  about  thirty  in  the  preparatory  school, 
seventy-five  in  all.     The  buildings  in  which  the  students  live 


302  The  Old  World  in  its  Neui  Face. 

are  excellent,  and  the  lecture-rooms  attractive.  It  is  regret- 
ted, however,  that  the  small  support  given  to  the  ministers 
repSls  young  men  of  good  birth  and  breeding  from  the  pro- 
fession ;  that  the  unsettled  state  of  theological  opinion  in  the 
world  alienates  still  more,  and  that  the  strifes  in  the  National 
Protestant  Church  keep  away  another  portion.  Notwith- 
standing, therefore,  that  theological  students  are  exempt  from 
military  conscription,  and  that  a  considerable  fund  exists  for 
their  support,  the  numbers  who  come  are  far  below  the  wants 
of  the  Church.  The  preliminary  examinations  are  severe, 
and  would  exclude  nine-tenths  of  all  our  candidates. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  name  the  chief  seats  of  theological 
learning  in  Europe  at  this  time,  with  the  more  distinguished 
professors  who  attract  students  to  them,  for  the  benefit  of 
young  men  coming  abroad  or  clergymen  traveling  in  Europe 
and  desiring  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  theologians.  Of 
course  my  list  will  be  imperfect,  but  correct  as  far  as  it  goes, 
and  may  convey  some  useful  information  at  home. 

1.  Berlin,  where  Hengstenberg,  an  unqualifiedly  Orthodox, 
and  Dorner,  a  broad  and  generous  theologian  of  the  same 
type,  are  the  great  ornaments  and  attractions. 

2.  Erlangen  in  Bavaria  is  now,  after  Berlin,  perhaps  the 
most  frequented  of  theological  schools.  It  is  intensely  "  Or- 
thodox," and  Prof.  Hoffman  is  its  leading  spirit. 

3.  Halle,  where  Tholuck  and  Julius  Miiller — mild  and  en- 
lightened men  of  a  Broad  Church  spirit — are  the  world-known 
Professors. 

4.  Gottingen,  with  Ewald  and  Ehrenfrickter. 

5.  Heidelberg,  with  Schenkel  and  Hitzig.  Rothe  died 
two  months  ago,  a  great  loss. 

6.  Jena,  with  Hase,  Grimm  and  Schwartz. 

7.  Tiibingen,  where  Baur,  at  sixty-eight  years  of  age,  died 
two  years  ago,  leaving  no  successor.     His  learning  is  con- 


Growth  of  Liberal  Opinions.  303 

ceded  to  have  been  immense,  and  his  candor  and  sincerity 
equal  to  his  attainments.  Out  of  his  study  he  had  the  sim- 
pUcity  of  a  child.  His  influence  was  vast,  and  continues,  al- 
though nobody  has  arisen  to  take  his  place,  and  a  very  Or- 
thodox professor  now  rules  at  Tubingen. 

8.  Leyden,  where  Scaolten  has  a  great  and  deserved  rep- 
utation as  a  Liberal  theologian. 

9.  Copenhagen.  Profs.  Sharling  and  Claussen  are  lead- 
ers in  Liberal  theological  studies. 

10.  In  Holland,  there  are  numerous  and  ever-increasing 
friends  of  the  Liberal  theology.  Reville,  at  Rotterdam,  as  a 
preacher  and  writer  carries  a  great  weight.  He  belongs  to 
the  French  Protestant  Church  in  its  Liberal  wing,  theologic- 
ally. The  Memnonites  are  said  to  be  in  sympathy  with  Uni- 
tarian opinions. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  present  direction  of  serious 
theological  studies  abroad  is  thoroughly  Liberal,  and  favora- 
ble to  that  theology  which  is  dear  to  us.  English  influence, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  is  adverse,  except  in  the  half-heretical  and 
wholly  noble  defection  of  scholarly  English  thinkers  and  di- 
vines whom  Maurice,  Stanley,  Jowett,  Williams  lead  forward. 
I  am  much  impressed  with  the  narrowness  of  all  English 
churchmen  I  meet  on  the  Continent.  Their  seemingly  willful 
blindness  to  modern  illumination  in  theology,  is  dreadful. 
One  does  not  wonder  to  see  Archdeacon  Denison,  as  re- 
ported in  the  London  Times  of  September  (and  he  does  not 
lack  a  most  sprightly  wit),  maintaining  that  the  positive  dem- 
onstrations of  science  must  yield  to  the  assertions  of  the  in- 
spired writers ;  as  though,  if  the  Bible  should  say  the  earth 
was  flat,  good  Christians  would  not  believe  it  to  be  round  ! 
What  greater  folly  of  statement  could  be  indulged  in,  or  what 
sort  of  credulity  could  be  more  fatal  to  any  final  faith  in  the 
sacred  writings  ?     Let  me  mention  here  the  names  of  the  two 


304  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

French  theological  reviews  most  likely  to  interest  our  minis- 
ters who  are  properly  curious  about  the  opinions  and  doings 
of  their  Continental  brethren.  Le  Disciple  de  jFesus  Christ, 
a  Liberal  Christian  Review,  published  under  the  editoral 
care  of  J.  Martin  Paschoud,  who  is  assisted  by  all  the  writers 
to  whom  the  recently  remarkable  progress  of  Liberal  Chris- 
tianity is  due  in  France — such  as  Michel  Nicholas,  Albert 
Reville,  Ernest  Fontanes,  Felix  Pecaut,  Charles  Verhuel, 
Jules  Steeg,  Leblois,  Goy,  Theophile  Bost,  E.  Paris,  Colani, 
Coquerel  fils,  Grotz,  Albarie,  Veges,  Gaufres,  Dide,  Cruvellie, 
Pelissier,  Fermaud,  and  others.  It  is  published  the  ist  and 
15th  of  each  month,  in  numbers  of  three  or  four  octavo 
sheets,  and  forms  annually  two  thick  volumes  of  600  pages. 
Price  of  subscription  twelve  francs  a  year.  Paris  :  Germer 
Bailliere.  New  York  :  Bailliere  Brothers,  410  Broadway. 
The  other  is  the  Revue  de  Theologie,  a  quarterly,  published  at 
Strasburg  under  the  editorship  of  Colani,  which  appears  to 
be  supported  mainly  by  the  same  writers,  but  contains  some- 
what more  elaborate  articles.  It  costs  eight  francs,  and  may 
be  had  of  Cherbuliez,  33  Rue  de  Seine,  Paris,  or  Williams  & 
Norgate,  Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  London. 

Strasburg  is  a  walled  and  fortified  town,  full  of  soldiers  at 
all  times,  and  specially  so  now  when  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Prussian  frontier  and  the  present  stir  in  German  politics 
make  French  vigilance  and  preparation  for  defense  or  of- 
fense peculiarly  active.  We  rode  through  an  immense 
stronghold  of  fortifications  within  fortifications,  with  the 
modern  theory  of  the  superiority  of  earth-works  over  stone 
walls  in  evident  application.  Thousands  of  men  are  em- 
ployed in  giving  impregnability  to  this  important  post,  within 
a  mile  of  the  Rhine,  from  which  would  probably  be  launched 
the  bolt  of  war,  should  Napoleon  ever  think  to  realize  the 
French  hankering  to  regain  their  Rhenish  provinces.     Vast 


The  Cathedral.  305 

quantities  of  munitions  of  war  are  heaped  up  in  the  yards  of 
the  huge  arsenals  just  out  of  Strasburg.  The  soldiers  evi- 
dently think  that  their  hour  is  approaching.  Strasburg  is 
too  commercial  not  to  dread  a  struggle,  which,  turn  as  it 
would,  could  not  fail  to  damage  all  her  existing  interests. 

The  cathedral,  so  famous  in  all  the  earth,  is  the  great 
architectural  feature  of  Strasburg.  Its  spire  is  the  highest 
in  the  world — four  hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet!  I  remem- 
ber very  well  clambering  up  into  the  lantern  twenty  years 
ago  ;  and  yet,  when  a  kindly  cicerone  asked  me  yesterday  if  I 
would  not  ascend,  I  indignantly  asked  him  if  he  took  me  for 
a  fool.  I  was  trying  (I  found  on  reflection)  to  cover  up  un- 
der the  name  of  wisdom  the  decay  of  my  enterprise  and  the 
weakening  of  my  tendons  !  The  fayade  is  a  curious  basket 
of  stone,  through  whose  lattice-work  the  grim  under-walls  ap- 
pear. Of  the  two  towers,  only  one  is  finished.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  realize  either  the  size  or  height  of  this  building  from 
any  point  nearer  than  a  mile  off.  From  the  farthest  fortress 
wall  we  got  our  first  true  idea  of  the  relative  vastness  of  this 
enormous  mass,  by  seeing  how  all  the  largest  buildings  in  the 
city  and  almost  the  town  itself  were  dwarfed  in  its  shadow. 
The  proportions  are  said  not  to  be  very  good.  The  interior 
is  superb  in  its  majestic  pillars,  lofty  nave,  vast  space  and  ex- 
quisite windows.  Nowhere  have  we  seen  more  beautiful 
glass,  and  it  occupies  every  window  of  the  church.  Just  as 
we  entered,  a  choir  of  nuns'  voices  burst  out  in  a  hymn  of 
praise  and  made  the  vast  aisles  echo  with  harmony.  This 
cathedral  was  once  in  Protestant  hands,  and  it  was  respected 
and  even  renovated  by  its  somewhat  unnatural  heirs. 

But  one  can  hardly  regret  that  it  has  reverted  to  its  origi- 
nal owners.  Protestants  have  no  use  for  cathedrals.  They 
are  not  fit  to  preach  in — and  they  require  a  spectacular  wor- 
ship such  as  we  can  not  use.     I  must  confess,  however,  that 


3o6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

I  heard  the  end  of  a  very  bold  and  earnest  sermon  from  a 
Catholic  priest  in  this  very  cathedral,  and  was  glad  to  see  a 
thousand  people  listening  to  it.  It  was  a  melancholy  change, 
the  afternoon  of  the  same  Sunday,  to  attend  Protestant  wor- 
ship in  St.  Thomas's  Church  (a  fine  old  place,  better  known 
for  Marshal  Saxe's  monument  than  for  any  thing  else),  and 
to  hear  a  sermon  in  German  from  Professor  Baum,  on  the  old 
Union  of  Protestants,  their  unhappy  divisions,  the  appear- 
ance and  prospects  of  a  better  understanding  among  them, 
the  uprise  of  Protestantism  in  Italy,  where  Sunday-schools 
have  already  gathered  in  six  thousand  children,  and  the  en- 
couragements to  work  with  fresh  zeal  and  courage.  The 
sorrow  was  to  hear  this  excellent  sermon  delivered  in  this 
great  church  to  a  hundred  hearers,  of  whom  nine-tenths  were 
women !  The  prospects  of  Protestantism  will  not  be  very 
brilliant  while  such  indifference  exists  among  its  own  chil- 
dren. There  is  evidently  a  lively  competition  between  Ro- 
manism and  Protestantism  here  and  everywhere  else  in 
France.  But  it  is  carried  on  very  differently  by  the  two 
parties  to  it.  The  Protestants  use  the  press,  fill  the  air  with 
brochures,  and  array  science,  philosophy  and  criticism  against 
the  old  enemy.  The  Catholics  fill  their  churches,  meet  the 
religious  wants  of  the  common  people,  ply  more  actively  all 
their  safe  methods,  point  to  the  lukewarmness  and  external 
impiety  of  the  Protestants,  and  hold  by  these  means  the  bulk 
of  the  common  people  with  them.  It  was  not  surprising  to 
me  to  see  a  pamphlet  in  a  Catholic  book-store  to-day — 
"  Protestantism — Is  it  a  Religion  ?"  Certainly  it  must  learn 
some  new  ways  before  it  will  become  the  religion  of  the  peo- 
ple of  France,  Italy,  or  even  Germany. 

I  passed  my  last  evening  in  Strasburg  at  Prof  Bruch's 
hospitable  fireside,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  charming  family 
circle.     The  unusual  coldness  .of  the  weather  makes  fires  al- 


Cold  Weather. 


307 


ready  necessary.  Snow  covered  considerable  portions  of  the 
Jura  a  week  ago,  and  between  Salzburg  and  Munich  snow 
lay  quite  deep  on  the  railroad  track  the  ist  of  October,  a  very 
unusual  promptness  in  the  advance  of  winter.  There  are 
very  poor  preparations  against  cold  in  the  hotels.  Stoves 
(usually  of  porcelain)  abound,  but  one  misses  the  open  fire 
and  a  chance  to  toast  the  feet.  The  German  feather-bed 
cover  begins  to  vindicate  its  value  in  our  eyes,  as  we  enter 
the  stone-floored  and  often  immense  rooms  of  the  Conti- 
nent. I  slept  last  night  in  a  room  thirty  feet  square,  larger 
than  a  good  drawing-room.  It  makes  one  shiver  to  enter 
such  apartments  after  a  day's  journey  in  cars  that  are  never 
heated. 


XXVI. 


HEI  DELBERG. 

Duchy  of  Baden,  October  9, 1867. 

"C^VERY  body  goes  to  Heidelberg!  Its  famous  castle  is 
"^  perhaps  the  most  picturesque  ruin  in  the  world.  Just  high 
enough  to  command  the  landscape,  and  just  low  enough  to 
form  a  part  of  it ;  enough  in  ruins  to  gratify  the  passion  for 
age  and  decay,  and  enough  preserved  to  leave  the  full  impres- 
sion of  its  ancient  magnificence — itself  a  lovely  mass  of  red- 
dish sandstone,  framed  in  the  greenest  and  most  luxuriant 
foliage — there  is  nothing  wanting  to  give  dignity  and  charm 
to  this  best  known  of  all  ruins.  There  is  an  extraordinary 
massiveness  and  an  extraordinary  delicacy  in  the  architecture 
of  the  castle,  and  enough  remains  to  exhibit  both  nearly  in 
perfection.  Food  for  a  whole  summer's  dreaming  is  stored 
away  in  its  winding  walks  or  its  subterranean  passages.  Its 
various  terraces  are  places  where  one  might  linger  away  a 
hundred  twilights  without  monotony.  The  vast  champaign 
of  the  Rhine,  level  as  a  prairie,  stretches  away  twenty  fniles 
in  every  direction,  so  that  the  opposite  hills  are  rarely  seen 
in  clear  outline  ;  the  Neckar,  just  unsheathed  from  its  lovely 
scabbard  of  vine-embossed  hills,  strikes  its  glittering  blade 
out  into  the  plain  ;  Mannheim,  Spires,  and  other  numerous 
towns  stud  the  wide  field  with  their  towers ;  trains  of  cars 
mark  their  swift  ways  with  smoke  that  curls  and  melts  like  a 
frosty  breath.  The  dull  old  town,  crowded  in  between  the 
river  and  the  mountains,  contracts  its  streets  and  pares  away 


The  Churches.  309 

its  sidewalks  and  stretches  out  its  length  to  meet  its  narrow 
circumstances.  Its  grim  old  church,  with  its  nave  divided  by 
a  stone  wall,  shelters  on  the  choir  end  the  Catholics,  on  the 
opposite  end  the  Protestants.  Like  other  cities  in  these  lit- 
tle German  States,  whose  people  have  changed  their  religion 
as  their  rulers  have  chanced  to  be  Catholic  or  Protestant, 
Heidelberg  has  had  three  or  four  revolutions  in  its  ecclesi- 
astical history,  to  say  nothing  of  the  sieges,  bombardments, 
conflagrations  and  political  upsets  it  has  suffered.  That 
wretched  Louis  XIV.  has  made  all  this  part  of  the  country 
hate  his  memor}^.  His  generals  were  monsters  of  cruelty, 
and  made  nothing  of  ordering  all  the  inhabitants  out  of  a 
city  at  twenty-four  hours'  notice,  and  then  burning  the  whole 
town  to  the  ground. 

Heidelberg  has  about  eighteen  thousand  inhabitants,  of 
whom  two-thirds  are  Protestant.  The  Protestants  form  one 
parish,  with  three  churches  and  five  ministers.  Their  relig- 
ious affairs  are  directed  by  a  committee  of  citizens,  about 
seventy  in  number,  who  are  the  ultimate  appeal  of  a  smaller 
committee  of  about  twenty,  who  have  immediate  charge  of  the 
interests  of  religious  education  and  religious  worship.  They 
nominate  pastors  to  any  vacancy.  The  ministers  are  said  to 
be  all  liberal  in  their  theology — as  the  people  are.  By  liberal 
we  must  not  understand  Unitarian,  for  they  do  not  own  and 
hardly  know  the  name  in  Germany.  But  they  have  essen- 
tially the  thing.  The  Lutheran  Church  in  Germany  is  or- 
thodox, as  a  rule,  in  the  American  sense  of  that  word.  The 
Reformed,  as  they  call  themselves,  are  not  orthodox.  But 
they  do  not  make  a  dogmatic  confession.  They  are  not 
Trinitarians  any  more  than  we  are,  but  they  do  not  call  them- 
selves Unitarians,  and  they  try  to  propitiate  the  intolerance 
of  the  Lutherans  by  devoting  themselves  to  practical  preach- 
ing and  dogmatic  silence.     Some  of  the  liberal  teachers  avoid 


3 TO  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

a  schism  or  scandal  by  mysticism  and  obscurantism.  Those 
teachers  of  theology  who  are  not  connected  with  pastoral 
charsfes  and  are  not  members  of  consistories  are  of  course 
more  free  in  their  utterances  and  of  course  correspondingly 
clear  in  their  thoughts — for  what  one  must  not  say  one  tries 
not  to  think. 

Heidelberg  may  now  be  said  to  be  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Liberal  Christian  theology  in  Germany.  Not  only  are 
her  pastors  liberal  men,  and  her  population,  too,  but  her 
University  is  thoroughly  liberal.  Her  theological  faculty,  in 
its  ordifiary  (that  is,  full  and  permanent  professorships)  con- 
sists, or  did  consist  until  a  few  weeks  ago,  of  Rothe,  Hitzig, 
Schenkel  and  Holtzman,  of  whom  Holtzman  alone  was  "  Or- 
thodox," and  he  has  just  left  and  gone  to  Bonn.  One  of  the 
professors  told  me  that  with  him  departed  from  Heidelberg 
the  last  of  the  Orthodox  school !  I  inquired  if  there  were  left 
no  Orthodox  laymen  among  the  professors.  He  knew  of  not 
one. 

Richard  Rothe,  born  in  Posen,  Jan.  ^Sth,  1799,  was  edu- 
cated partly  at  Breslau,  then  from  18 17-19  was  at  Heidel- 
berg, and  finally  concluded  his  University  studies  at  Berlin. 
He  made  the  acquaintance  of  Bunsen  when  at  Rome,  and 
formed  a  warm  friendship  with  him.  For  a  short  time  he 
was  Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Wittenberg. 
Afterward  he  was  at  Bonn,  and  finally  at  Heidelberg,  where 
he  finished  his  laborious  and  honored  life,  August  19,  1867, 
only  two  months  ago.  His  works  are  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion here,  and  are  well  known  to  theological  scholars  in  most 
countries,  especially  his  great  work  on  Christian  Ethics.  I 
was  greatly  grieved  to  find  Rothe  dead,  for  I  had  counted 
specially  on  making  his  personal  acquaintance,  having  be- 
come greatly  interested  in  the  man  and  his  thoughts,  chiefly 
through  the  interpretation  of  my  friend  and  colleague.  Dr. 


Richard  Rothe.  311 

Osgood,  for  many  years  a  student  and  lover  of  Rothe.  All 
I  could  do  was  to  collect  such  an  idea  of  the  man — his  men- 
tal, moral  and  spiritual  quality — as  conversation  with  his  old 
colleagues  and  friends  could  yield. 

It  was  plain  enough  that  Rothe  was  no  ordinary  man  from 
the  profound  sorrow  his  death  had  left  in  Heidelberg,  where 
personalities  are  not  too  much  recognized  in  the  supreme  in- 
terest accorded  to  ideas  and  facts.  But  from  all  quarters 
Rothe's  loss  was  met  with  grief  and  profound  recognition. 
He  was  by  universal  concession  a  man  of  immense  learning, 
research  and  diligence — greatly  distinguished  for  the  spiritu- 
ality of  his  temper,  his  moral  purity  and  the  heavenly  gentle- 
ness of  his  disposition.  He  not  only  had  no  enemy,  but  he 
had  not  even  an  opponent.  Broad  and  liberal  in  his  spirit, 
he  was  yet  constitutionally  disqualified  from  being  a  leader 
in  theological  reform  by  his  anxious  desire  to  promote  har- 
mony and  maintain  peace.  His  colleagues,  who  knew  the 
absolute  freedom  of  his  own  mind  and  his  genuine  sympathy 
with  their  more  aggressive  Liberalism,  say  that  his  gentleness 
and  his  spirituality  exhaled  in  a  kind  of  mystic  vapor  which 
took  the  edge  off  his  thoughts,  and  perhaps  hid  their  form 
even  from  himself  His  somewhat  vague  and  mystic  theol- 
ogy was  favored  by  the  practical  seclusion  of  his  own  private 
life.  His  wife  for  many  years  was  reduced  to  childishness 
by  an  illness  which  ended  only  with  her  life  twenty  years 
later.  During  this  long  period  Rothe  devoted  all  his  leisure 
to  watching  over  his  sick  wife,  whom  he  soothed  with  little 
stories,  as  he  would  have  amused  an  infant.  He  wholly  gave 
up  general  society,  and  this  increased  somewhat  a  certain 
eccentricity  of  mind,  although  it  developed  a  most  lovely  dis- 
interestedness. Rothe,  by  his  character  and  general  talents, 
commanded  universal  love  and  reverence.  His  ethical  work, 
the  chief  labor  of  his  life,  will  hold  a  permanent  place  in 


312  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Christian  philosophy,  and  his  death  leaves  a  void  in  the  the- 
ological faculty  it  will  be  difficult  to  fill. 

Hitzig  is  the  Hebrew  Professor,  a  profoundly  learned  and 
most  liberal-minded  theologian,  whose  influence  may  be  com- 
pared here  to  that  of  our  own  Dr.  Noyes  at  Cambridge. 

Dr.  Schenkel,  left  by  Rothe's  death  essentially  the  head  of 
the  theological  faculty  at  Heidelberg,  is  a  man  of  about  fifty. 
His  hair  is  still  unturned.  In  appearance  he  is  not  unlike 
Dr.  Chapin  (though  not  so  stout  in  figure),  and  has  a  good 
deal  of  his  fervor  of  speech,  and  much  of  his  pulpit  reputa- 
tion. But  he  is  above  all  a  scholar,  and  has  written  twenty 
volumes,  of  which,  after  his  "  Character  of  Jesus,"  the  most 
important  is  a  work  on  Christian  dogmatics.  Dr.  Schenkel 
is  of  Swiss  origin  (from  Schafifhausen),  but  a  thorough  Ger- 
man in  blood  and  nature.  He  is  recognized  as  a  man  of 
much  sharper  intellect  and  much  clearer  expression  than 
Rothe,  and  of  a  totally  different  sense  of  duty  in  regard  to 
the  advancement  of  theology.  He  is  out  and  out  a  Reform- 
er, and  inherits  the  temper  and  courage  of  the  early  German 
and  Swiss  breed,  who  were  never  disposed  to  conceal  their 
teeth  behind  too  close  or  too  soft  lips.  Schenkel  knows,  by 
his  profound  and  universal  learning  and  by  his  quick  sympa- 
thy with  the  nineteenth  century,  just  to  what  form  Christian 
faith  has  come  ;  he  knows  that  it  will  not  do  to  leave  the  peo- 
ple to  their  natural  tendencies — which  are  either  to  fling 
Christianity  aside,  as  an  outworn  garment,  or  to  buckle  the 
rags  of  the  old  theology  with  a  stouter  strap  round  their 
.chilled  limbs  and  declare  it  a  sufficient  cloak.  He  knows 
that  the  cry  which  Hengstenberg  (whom  he  respects  as  a 
brave  and  straightforward  man)  and  his  school  are  maintain- 
ing, that  Christianity  is  to  be  weighed  in  different  scales  from 
all  other  kinds  of  truth,  is  a  cry  which  in  the  end  buries  be- 
yond memory  the  very  Gospel  it  temporarily  hides  from  rude 


German  Liberal  Christians.  313 

investigation.  He  knows,  too,  that  the  rationalism  of  Baur 
and  the  destructive  school  of  mere  critics  in  Germany  does 
no  justice  to  the  testimony,  which  the  unwritten  tradition  of 
the  living  Church  hands  down,  of  a  solemn  verity  in  the  Gos- 
pel, and  he  is  working  to  reform  without  destroying  or  dis- 
turbing the  continuit}'  of  the  Christian  consciousness  in  the 
Church. 

We  are  sometimes  wont  to  deplore — in  our  efforts  at  a 
sublime  candor — the  definite  and  somewhat  antagonistic  out- 
line which  our  American  Christian  Liberalism  took  on  when 
it  assumed  the  shape  and  name  of  Unitarianism.  But  no- 
body who  observes  in  Germany  how  those  who  left  Ortho- 
doxy were,  for  the  want  of  any  existing  theology  organized 
into  a  definite  Church  like  our  own,  obliged  to  step  off  into 
vacancy  or  to  float  like  feathers  blown  by  a  high  breeze  off  a 
bird's  back  down  the  wind,  can  doubt  the  good  providence 
which  gave  us  a  positive  even  if  it  were  a  circumscribed  po- 
sition— a  fortress  if  not  a  country.  A  few  of  the  nobler 
minds  in  Germany  are  doing  just  now  what  we  did  half  a 
century  ago.  They  see  and  feel  that  the  prosperity  of  theo- 
logical reform  can  not  be  separated  from  a  Church  life — that 
Christianity  is  an  act  as  well  as  a  thought,  a  life  as  well  as  a 
theory,  a  Church  as  well  as  a  creed,  and  that  the  cultus  and 
the  dogma  must  be  kept  together.  Schenkel  is,  I  suspect, 
the  leader  in  this  movement.  I  could  not  quite  find  out 
how  far  he  was  the  prime  mover  of  the  union  recently  form- 
ed in  Germany  of  pastors  and  theologians,  which  extends 
now  to  several  thousand  members,  whose  professed  object  is 
to  encourage  Christian  worship  and  increase  the  co-operation 
of  the  laity  with  the  pastors ;  to  build  up  churches  upon  a 
practical  Christian  foundation,  leaving  each  and  every  mem- 
ber to  an  absolute  dogmatic  freedom.  It  is  chiefly  Reform- 
ed pastors  (not  Lutheran)  who  are  in  this  union ;  but  there 

O 


314  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

are  Orthodox  members.  Mainly,  however,  it  is  composed  of 
Liberals  who  know  and  own  their  sympathies,  and  Liberals 
who,  not  knowing  their  own  tdfidencies,  suppose  themselves 
to  be  "  Orthodox." 

Schenkel  has  not  escaped  persecution  in  Germany  from 
Lutheran  ecclesiastical  bodies.  Only  three  years  ago,  after 
the  appearance  of  his  "  Character  of  Jesus,"  a  protest,  signed 
by  several  thousand  Lutheran  ministers,  called  for  his  remov- 
al from  his  position  in  the  Heidelberg  Faculty  of  Theology. 
The  Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  who  seems  a  liberal  and  sensi- 
ble man,  replied  that  scientific  theology  had  its  rights  ;  that 
scholars  studied  theology  to  advance  the  science,  and  if  they 
published  books  which  were  not  sound,  objectors  had  it  for 
their  dut}^  to  answer  their  arguments,  not  to  silence  their 
writers.  Schenkel  answered  this  persecution  by  an  able  vol- 
ume. He  is  of  a  calm,  strong  spirit,  brave  and  self  sustained. 
He  understands  himself  and  his  duty.  In  wide  correspond- 
ence with  the  advanced  minds  in  Europe,  he  is  a  kind  of 
centre  of  our  Liberal  Christian  movement  on  the  Continent. 
He  knew  Channing's  and  Parker's  writings  well,  and  theirs 
only.  Parker  he  had  personally  seen.  He  had  never  heard 
of  James  Martineau,  although  he  knew  of  the  English  "Essays 
and  Reviews."  On  the  whole,  English  theology  had  not  in- 
terested him.  It  was  a  derivation  from  the  German,  not  an 
original  shoot.  He  looked  with  much  livelier  sympathy 
upon  the  American  Liberal  Church.  It  was  so  practical  and 
so  loving.  There  is  no  manner  of  justice  done  to  our  Ameri- 
can thinking  or  scholarship  among  savans  in  Europe.  I 
have  seen  no  men  abroad  whose  total  manhood  made  me 
feel  the  inferiority  of  our  first-class  Americans.  What  we 
lack  in  scholarship,  we  make  up  in  a  wide  scope  of  actual 
life.  Our  men  are  really  more  cosmopolitan  in  mind  than 
any  I  have  met,  and  with  all  Schenkel's  charm,  his  learning 


Schenkel.  31c 

and  his  eloquence,  his  purity  and  nobleness,  I  did  not  feel 
that  he  was  greater  than  several  of  our  own  ministers.  At 
my  first  interview  we  talked  two  hours  on  the  prospects  of 
Liberal  Christianity  in  Germany.  Our  talk  was  in  French, 
and  hampered  by  imperfect  facility  of  speech  on  both  sides. 
We  had  an  hour  or  two  of  conversation  on  the  evening  of 
the  next  day,  at  the  house  of  a  mutual  friend.  Professor 
Winslow,  an  American,  to  whose  courtesy  I  was  greatly  in- 
debted for  the  opportunity  of  seeing  just  those  Professors 
whose  reputation  attracted  my  curiosity  and  admiration. 
Schenkel  gave  me  a  half-dozen  letters  to  theological  friends  in 
Europe,  and  we  parted  cordial  friends,  equally  solicitous  to 
keep  up  future  correspondence  and  to  aid  in  bringing  Liberal 
Christians  on  both  sides  the  ocean  into  practical  communion. 
Schenkel  is  now  engaged  on  a  Bible  Dictionary,  as  editor, 
with  a  large  force  of  helpers.  It  will  be  a  very  important 
work  for  our  cause.  He  had  never  seen  Dr.  Furness's  trans- 
lation of  his  work,  which  has  been  translated  into  several 
languages.  He  received  from  the  A.  U.  A.  our  monthly 
journal.  It  is  delightful  to  come  unexpectedly  upon  traces 
of  Lowe's  missionary  zeal  in  distant  parts  of  Europe  !  I 
hope  my  colleague,  Mr.  Allen,  will  see  to  it  that  the  Christian 
Examiner  reaches  some  of  these  men,  whose  acquaintance 
with  our  work  is  so  important  to  the  general  cause. 

I  called  upon  Professor  Bunsen,  the  Professor  of  Practical 
Chemistry  here,  and  found  in  his  plain  and  noble  face  and 
simple  manners  the  model  of  a  genuine,  modest,  yet  assured 
man  of  science.  He  has  usually  about  seventy  pupils  at  his 
lectures,  and  thirty  in  his  laboratory,  and  his  work  is  labori- 
ous. He  had  recovered  from  a  somewhat  alarming  illness 
by  spending  his  vacation  at  Ragatz,  Switzerland.  Professor 
Kirchhoff,  Professor  of  Physics,  and  his  companion  in  the 
famous  researches  into  the  constitution  of  the  sun,  is  a  deli- 


3i6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

cate-looking  scholar,  who  parts  his  hair  in  the  middle.  His 
acumen  is  at  least  equal  to  Bunsen's.  He  is  now  lame  and 
a  sufferer  from  overwork.  I  find  that  the  old  tradition  about 
German  scholars  setting  at  naught  the  laws  of  health  with 
impunity  is  a  fable.  They  are  not  a  bit  more  enduring  than 
we  are,  and  perhaps  work  no  harder.  Professor  Helmholtz, 
of  the  Medical  Faculty,  impressed  me  as  a  man  combining 
in  an  extraordinary  way  physical  and  metaphysical  insight  and 
knowledge.  We  talked  of  the  tendencies  of  modern  thought 
and  modern  science.  He  exhibited  a  seriousness  and  dignity 
as  well  as  comprehensiveness  in  his  views,  too  seldom  ob- 
served among  physicists.  His  person  was  unusually  grand 
and  commanding,  not  from  size,  but  carriage  and  expression. 
Professor  Zeller,  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty,  is  the  son-in-law 
of  Baur,  of  Tubingen,  and  a  disciple  of  his  great  relative. 
He  was  educated  to  theology,  but  driven  out  partly  by  per- 
secution and  partly  by  philosophical  preferences.  He  has  a 
most  ethereal  delicacy  of  face,  a  keen,  sharp  outline  in  all  his 
phrases,  and  a  purity  and  dignity  which  none  dispute.  He  is 
the  author  of  a  standard  work  on  Greek  philosophy.  I  found 
him  much  interested  in  the  account  of  Liberal  Christianity  in 
America.  Professor  Otto,  of  the  Modern  Language  depart- 
ment (his  German  grammar  is  the  best),  a  most  clever  and 
enlightened  man,  and  a  warm  and  truly  Liberal  Christian,  tells 
me  that  out  of  the  hundreds  of  students  here,  there  are  not 
five  a  year  disposed  to  study  French  or  English.  These 
languages  are  taught  in  the  public  schools,  and  are  consider- 
ed unworthy  to  employ  the  time  and  energies  of  adults. 
Want  of  acquaintance  with  English  is,  in  my  judgment,  one  of 
the  radical  defects  in  the  training  of  German  savans.  They 
don't  know  enough  of  the  language  to  derive  the  correction 
from  its  literature  which  the  more  practical  understanding 
of  the  English  would  afford  their  too  speculative  intellect. 


University  Professors.  317 

The  University  in  Heidelberg,  founded  in  13 16,  and  one 
of  the  oldest  in  Europe,  has  about  a  hundred  Professors,  or- 
dinary and  extraordinar)-',  and  about  eight  hundred  students. 
Its  Professors  are  divided  into  the  four  great  Faculties  of 
Theology,  Law,  Medicine  and  Philosophy.  Each  of  the  great 
universities  has  its  special  eminence,  and  law  is  the  specialty 
of  Heidelberg.  Mittelmeyer,  who  died  a  few  months  ago  at 
eighty  years  of  age,  had  been  for  many  years  the  great  orna- 
ment and  attraction  of  the  Law  Faculty.  He  was  very  great 
in  criminal  law.  But  Vangerow,  the  greatest  Pandectist  in 
Europe,  remains,  and  of  late  years  has  had  a  larger  class  of 
students  at  his  lectures  than  any  other  Professor  in  any 
branch.  Three  hundred  out  of  the  eight  hundred  students 
are  followers  of  his  courses.  Hausser,  a  most  distinguished 
History  Professor,  and  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of 
Heidelberg,  has  lately  died,  and  also  a  young  Professor 
Weber,  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  so  that  the  university  has  suf- 
fered the  bereavement  of  four  of  its  chief  pillars  within  a  year. 
It  is  not  the  practice  of  German  students,  except  the  poorer 
class  who  are  on  charity  foundations,  to  remain  at  one  uni- 
versity through  the  whole  period  of  their  studies.  They  usu- 
ally divide  the  time  among  two  or  three — going  to  each  uni- 
versity, for  what  it  is  thought  to  have  best ;  to  one  for  law, 
another  philosophy,  another  theology,  and  so  on.  The  reg- 
ular ordinary'  Professors  are  supported  by  the  government,  and 
have  salaries  of  from  2000  guldens  to  3500  (a  gulden  is  worth 
forty  cents),  according  to  their  distinction.  There  is  a  rival- 
ry in  the  universities  to  procure  the  more  famous  men,  and 
they  buy  them  by  outbidding  each  other.  They  receive  be- 
sides oftentimes  their  rent  and  such  fees  as  students  may 
pay  them,  perhaps  twelve  guldens  for  each  half-year  from 
each  student  who  follows  them.  In  case  of  a  popular  sub- 
ject and  a  popular  lecturer  these  fees  become  very  consider- 


3i8  The  Old  World  in  its  Nau  Face. 

able.  The  students  are  under  very  little  discipline.  There 
is  a  University  Court  which  tries  them  for  offenses  against 
order,  and  imprisons  them  for  'days  or  weeks,  according  to 
their  offense.  They  leave  the  college  prison  to  attend  lec- 
tures, but  at  other  times  are  confined  to  it  until  their  sentence 
is  out.  As  to  their  studies,  they  are  under  no  compulsion, 
except  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  a  severe  examination 
before  they  can  receive  their  degree,  or  obtain  employment 
in  their  profession.  These  examinations  are  not  conducted 
by  their  teachers,  but  by  government  commissions,  and  are 
genuine  tests  of  scholarship.  With  this  admirable  check,  the 
freedom  allowed  the  students  is  not  dangerous.  With  the 
exception  of  a  class  of  rich  young  men  from  noble  families, 
the  students  are  faithful  to  their  opportunities.  The  dissi- 
pation, duelling  and  beer  drinking,  excessive  and  disgusting, 
are  confined  to  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  out  of  the  eight 
hundred,  young  men  of  fortune  who  have  too  much  money 
and  too  little  concern  about  their  future.  They  form  them- 
selves into  clubs,  distinguished  by  badges  and  caps,  and  cul- 
tivate duelling  and  beer  drinking  in  a  beastly  way.  It  is  no 
extravagance  to  say  that  a  dozen  duels  a  week  occur  in  term- 
time.  They  are  not  mortal  combats,  for  the  vital  parts  of 
the  body  are  protected.  They  fight  with  blunt  swords,  sharp- 
ened at  the  edges,  and  fitted  to  scar  but  not  to  stab.  Their 
aim  is  to  mark  and  slash  the  cheek,  and  many  of  them  wear 
about  as  ornaments  these  disfiguring  cuts.  The  clubs  have 
also  stringent  drinking  rules.  The  lowest  qualification  for 
entrance  is  ability  to  drink  thirteen  glasses  of  beer  at  a  sit- 
ting. One  of  the  more  aristocratic  exacts  thirty-four  glasses  ; 
a  feat  which  is  not  to  be  performed  without  artificial  empty- 
ing of  the  stomach  in  the  course  of  the  session.  These  vul- 
gar details  are  necessary  to  stamp  the  proper  character  upon 
these  semi-barbarous  excesses.     There  is  a  slow  tendency  to 


Cathedral  at  Spires.  319 

decline  in  these  time-honored  foUies.  The  knowledge  of 
them  ought  not  to  deter  young  men  of  sober  purposes  from 
seeking  Heidelberg,  where  excellent  companionship  and  seri- 
ous aims  prevail  among  the  vast  majority  of  the  students. 
Living  is  cheap  here.  One  American  gentleman,  who  has 
his  family  with  him  here,  told  me  that  it  hardly  cost  him  more 
to  live,  rent  and  clothes  included,  than  his  grocers'  bills  had 
been  in  Boston.  Still,  apart  from  the  university  life,  there  is 
little  or  nothing  besides,  and  families  not  intent  on  education 
find  it  dull — as  all  foreign  life  is,  compared  with  our  own. 

We  made  an  excursion  to  Spires,  for  the  sake  of  the  mem- 
ory of  its  ancient  Diet,  which  stopped  private  wars  in  Ger- 
many and  advanced  civilization  so  much,  and  because  of  the 
glorious  Protest  here  made  by  the  princes  and  doctors  in 
1529  against  the  Imperial  ordinance  forbidding  the  rights  of 
conscience  to  the  early  Reformers,  from  which  Protestantism 
derives  its  baptismal  and  honored  name.  The  old  cathedral 
here,  restored  with  pious  care  and  Catholic  zeal,  is  perhaps 
the  noblest  specimen  in  Europe  of  the  Romanesque  style. 
Its  domes  and  towers  are  glorious  to  behold,  and  its  nave 
and  choir  have  an  unequaled  majesty.  I  doubted  if  the 
costly  modern  fresco  painting  of  the  ceiling  and  walls  added 
to  the  effect,  and  this  doubt  was  strengthened  when  I  saw  the 
next  day  the  sister  church  in  the  same  style  at  Worms.  Its 
bare  stone  gave  a  finer  impression.  Outside  and  inside,  the 
grand  old  minster  harmonized.  Oh,  how  solemn  and  splen- 
did the  associations  clustering  round  that  grim  cathedral  ! 
The  old  Diet-house,  where  Luther  argued  his  cause,  lost  be- 
fore it  was  heard,  and  gained  when  it  was  lost,  is  gone,  all  but 
its  foundations.  "  Here  I  take  my  stand ;  I  can  not  do  oth- 
erwise ;  God  help  me."  But  the  minster,  in  whose  shadow 
it  stood,  remains  essentially  as  Luther  saw  it.  The  narrow 
streets  about  it,  now  so  empty  and  still,  became  again  for  me 


320  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

peopled  with  knights  and  princes  and  their  armed  followers  ! 
The  Catholic  bishops  and  their  gaudy  .trains  were  jostled  by 
the  glittering  soldiers  who  came  to  lend  steel  arguments 
to  their  master's  reformed  opinions ;  and  amid  all  the 
splendid  retinue  of  proud  ecclesiastics  and  electors,  I  felt 
Luther's  great  shade  passing  by,  in  plain  gown  and  cap,  but 
with  a  more  than  imperial  majesty  in  his  prophetic  mien. 
Two  miles  out  of  town  we  rode,  to  stand  in  the  shadow  of 
the  great  tree,  known  as  Luther's  tree,  a  linden  of  eight  feet 
in  diameter,  planted  to  commemorate  the  very  spot  where 
Luther's  friends,  directly  in  sight  of  Worms,  dissuaded  him 
most  earnestly  from  keeping  his  purpose  of  answering  the 
summons  of  the  Diet ;  and  there  it  was  he  uttered  the  ever- 
memorable  words,  "  If  there  were  as  many  devils  in  Worms 
as  there  are  tiles  on  the  roofs  I  would  face  my  accusers 
there."  And  when  they  told  him  if  he  advanced  he  would 
be  burned  to  ashes  like  John  Huss,  he  replied,  "  Though  they 
should  kindle  a  fire  whose  flames  should  reach  from  Worms 
to  Wittenberg,  and  rise  up  into  the  vault  of  heaven,  I  would 
go  there  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  stand  before  them." 
Near  the  Diet-house  the  foundations  of  an  immense  monu- 
ment to  Luther's  memory — surrounded  by  the  chief  Reform- 
ers— are  already  laid.  All  Protestant  Germany  has  con- 
tributed to  the  fund  of  this  costly  memorial,  which  promises 
to  be  worthy  of  its  subject.  The  statues  will  be  speedily 
erected,  being  nearly  ready. 

At  Spires  I  stumbled  into  a  Jewish  synagogue,  with  its 
front  in  an  alley,  as  if  still  hiding  away  from  persecution. 
Two  hundred  Hebrews  were  celebrating  some  high  festival, 
perhaps  the  Feast  of  Penitence.  A  few  of  them  were  clad 
in  sackcloth.  The  priest  wore  a  turban,  and  they  looked 
more  like  Arab  sheiks  than  modern  citizens. 

The  late  harvest  is  coming  in,  and  the  fields  are  thick  with 


The  Harvest. 


321 


laborers.  Immense  quantities  of  beets,  turnips  and  potatoes 
are  being  gathered.  Such  heaps  of  potatoes  I  never  saw  be- 
fore, and  they  appeared  excellent  in  quaUty.  They  must 
furnish  a  large  portion  of  this  people's  food.  The  frost  must 
have  seriously  injured  the  grapes.  Wine  has  gone  up  in 
price.  The  grapes  are  often  sold  standing  at  so  much  per 
pound.  Oftener  the  wine  is  sold  merely  as  grape-juice,  at  so 
much  the  ohm,  which  is  eighty  mass,  or  about  a  barrel  En- 
glish measure.  It  varies  from  thirty  to  fifty  thalers,  the  ordi- 
nary kinds.  Choice  vineyards  are  sold  at  fancy  prices. 
Travelers  pay  very  much  higher  prices  than  the  natives  for 
the  same  articles.     Ignorance  is  very  expensive. 

The  cathedral  in  Frankfort,  burned  on  August  15th,  since 
we  were  here,  we  found  not  so  seriously  injured  as  reported. 
It  is  already  covered  with  stagings,  and  will  soon  be  fully  re- 
paired. Its  tower  is  majestic,  and  it  overshadows  prodigious 
memories.  The  loss  of  such  a  storied  monster  as  this  would 
be  a  calamity  for  the  world.  Fortunately  it  is  hard  to 
destroy  the  noblest  structures. 


02 


XXVII. 


HAMBURG. 


October  15,  1867. 

'  I  'HE  carriage-and-four  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  stood  in  the 
Porte-cochere  of  the  Hotel  de  Russie  at  Frankfort  as  we 
came  down  stairs  to  our  own  voiture.  The  Duke  and  Duch- 
ess of  Nassau  and  the  Crown  Prince  of  Denmark  were  in  the 
house,  whither  they  had  all  come  from  Wiesbaden,  and  there 
had  been  all  the  morning  a  considerable  embargo  of  the 
grand  staircase  by  solemn  footmen.  The  Princess  of  Wales, 
who  is  said  to  have  profited  in  her  lameness  by  the  waters  of 
Wiesbaden,  was  brought  down  stairs  in  a  chair  and  placed  in 
the  carriage,  before  the  horses  were  put  to  ;  she  is  a  pretty, 
amiable-looking  woman,  bright  and  cheerful,  and  was  dressed 
in  a  plain  traveling-suit.  She  looked  pale  but  not  ill,  and 
was  natural  and  simple  in  her  manners,  and  as  the  carriage 
stood  in  the  court-yard  fifteen  minutes  after  she  got  in  (the 
outer  doors  being  closed),  there  was  a  very  good  opportuni- 
ty to  see  the  royal  party.  Coming  down  stairs,  I  overtook  a 
stoutish  young  man,  with  full  face  and  light  whiskers,  in  a 
white  overcoat  and  low-crowned  black  hat,  totally  wanting  in 
any  air  of  nobility.  He  appeared  to  be  waiting  for  some- 
thing, and  addressed  somebody  in  German.  Great  was  my 
surprise  ten  minutes  afterward,  to  see  this  gentleman  mount 
the  carriage  and  take  his  place  beside  the  Princess,  the  very 
apparent  heir  of  the  English  throne  !  There  was  very  little 
needless    display   in    the    equipage.     The   royal  pair   rode 


Princely  Ma?iners.  323 

alone,  and  were  followed  by  another  carriage  with  their  at- 
tendants. The  Crown  Prince  of  Denmark  was  our  fellow- 
passenger  in  the  train  for  Hamburg.  We  had  many  oppor- 
tunities in  the  waiting -saloons  on  the  way  of  seeing  him. 
His  dress  was  thoroughly  undistinguished  from  that  of  any 
well-dressed  young  man  of  twenty-four.  He  does  not  look 
like  a  forcible  or  earnest  person,  or  one  with  more  than  av- 
erage abilities,  but  has  a  truly  amiable,  pure  and  prepossess- 
ing face.  He  traveled  with  two  footmen  in  attendance,  and 
two  friends  in  the  same  rail-carriage.  I  saw  him  in  the  early 
morning  munching  a  dry  roll  which  he  had  bought  at  the 
counter,  and  he  did  it  with  an  honest  appetite  that  spoke  well 
for  his  simple  tastes. 

We  passed  the  night — our  first — in  the  cars,  leaving  Frank- 
fort at  5^  P.M.  and  reaching  Hamburg  at  10^  next  morning. 
We  changed  our  train  five  times.  Germany  is  a  perfect  net- 
work of  railroads,  and  it  requires  peculiar  skill  and  special 
accuracy  in  the  time-tables,  to  secure  the  proper  connections 
in  long  stretches.  We  lost  at  least  an  hour  and  a  half  wait- 
ing for  trains,  and  as  the  weather  was  cold  and  damp  we  were 
not  wholly  comfortable  when  we  arrived.  Yet  the  cars  of 
the  first  class — which  in  long  night-journeys  are  best — are 
not  bad  sleeping-rooms  if  you  are  not  called  too  often  to 
change  them  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning. 

Hamburg  is  an  amphibious  city,  half  in  and  half  out  of  the 
water.  The  broad  Elbe,  full  of  islands,  opens  into  the  city 
on  one  side  by  numerous  canals,  cutting  it  up  much  like  Am- 
sterdam, although  not  in  concentric  half-circles.  These  ca- 
nals, very  ugly  and  dirty  at  low  water,  are  flooded  by  the  tide 
every  six  hours.  The  wholesale  stores  all  have  their  backs 
upon  them.  This  frees  the  city  from  burden-wagons  and 
trucks,  and  adds  very  much  to  its  quiet  and  comfort.  On 
the  opposite  side  of  the  city  comes  in  the  Alster,  a  small  river, 


324  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

which,  by  judicious  dams,  has  been  converted  into  a  beauti- 
ful lake,  around  whose  shores  lie  the  finest  houses  of  the  city, 
and  which,  extending  a  couple  of  miles  back,  is  now  drawing 
the  new  and  elegant  part  of  Hamburg  out  of  town,  the  city 
ending  in  a  beautiful  suburban  region  fast  filling  up  with  ele- 
gant houses  on  charming  grounds.  Hamburg  is  a  low,  flat 
city  in  the  midstr  of  a  level  plain.  The  blue  hills  of  Hasburg 
may  be  seen  in  a  clear  day — but  clear  days  are  very  scarce 
here,  although  it  is  very  ungrateful  in  us,  who  have  had  four 
superb  days  here,  to  say  so.  The  only  settled  weather  to  be 
depended  on  is  said  to  be  from  the  middle  of  August  to  the 
I  St  of  October.  Usually  up  here  in  52  north  latitude — 10 
degrees  north  of  New  York — the  weather  is  damp  and  chilly, 
when  not  wet  and  cold.  But  it  is  said  not  to  be  unwhole- 
some. The  regular  Hamburger  is  a  sort  of  petrel,  who  en- 
joys storm  and  wet.  His  natural  breath  is  fog,  and  he  com- 
plains of  a  weight  in  his  head  if  the  sun  shines  too  clearly. 
The  people  look  vigorous,  with  good  red  and  white  complex- 
ions, and  when  I  am  shivering,  I  see  women  with  bare  arms 
and  without  bonnets  going  about  their  duties  without  the 
least  sign  of  discomfort. 

Hamburg,  for  centuries  a  free  city — and  one  of  three  sur- 
vivors of  that  old  Hanseatic  League,  which  once  assembled 
at  Lubeck,  the  representatives  of  ninety  cities,  and  made  in- 
dependent treaties  with  great  powers  —  is  at  this  time  the 
most  important  commercial  town  in  Germany.  It  has  near- 
ly two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  possesses  great  wealth 
and  prosperity,  and  wears  more  the  aspect  of  New  York  with 
its  forest  of  masts,  its  immense  stores,  crowded  streets  and 
bustling  ways,  than  any  city  we  have  seen  since  Paris.  There 
is  here  nothing  of  the  languor  and  shrunken  look  which  so 
many  other  Continental  cities  wear.  Frankfort  is  dead  and 
dull  in  aspect,  compared  with  Hamburg.     The  Exchange  is 


The  Mighty  Dollar.  325 

fuller  and  more  charged  with  commercial  life  than  any  one 
I  ever  attended.  Three  or  four  thousand  merchants  assem- 
ble at  i|  o'clock  P.M.,  the  hour  of  high  'change,  in  the  grand 
and  convenient  Bourse,  and  their  voices,  heard  in  the  gallery 
above,  are  like  the  roar  of  a  cataract.  Every  commercial 
house  in  Hamburg  has  its  representative  on  the  floor  of  that 
Exchange  at  that  hour.  The  floor  is  marked  off  in  marble 
squares,  and  the  pillars  or  arches  around  it  are  all  numbered. 
Every  merchant  or  broker  has  his  fixed  place,  and  by  naming 
the  two  numbers  in  the  line  of  which  he  stands,  he  indicates 
his  position.  The  largest  part  of  the  business  is  'done  by 
brokers,  who  are  here  strictly  intermediates,  and  not,  as  with 
us,  persons  doing  business  on  their  own  account.  An  agree- 
ment informally  made  between  parties  at  their  places  of  busi- 
ness is  formally  completed  on  'Change  by  the  broker,  and  is 
thus  legalized.  Goods  sold  one  morning  are  delivered  with 
the  bill  in  the  afternoon,  and  if  not  paid  for  the  next  day, 
the  purchaser's  credit  is  lost,  as  much  as  if  he  had  failed  to 
meet  his  note  at  the  bank. 

A  great  and  even  cruel  strictness  rules  here  in  respect  of 
business  credit.  It  is  next  to  impossible  for  a  merchant  to 
recover  from  even  an  innocent  failure.  Money  is  the  god 
of  Hamburg,  and  no  disrespect  must  even  accidentally  be 
shown  this  divinity.  If  the  citizens  are  themselves  to  be 
credited,  money  measures  sense,  virtue,  birth,  every  thing 
here.  Men  bow  at  the  angles  due  to  a  million,  a  half-mil- 
lion, a  hundred  thousand  marks,  with  mathematical  precision, 
and  seem  to  possess  an  instinctive  adjustment  in  their  spinal 
cord  to  the  demands  of  the  occasion.  In  the  absence  of  a 
political  or  social  aristocracy,  it  is  not  strange  that  money 
should  assume  so  much  importance.  But  this  is  perhaps  no 
truer  here  than  at  home  in  certain  cities,  and  of  course  it  is 
not  true  anywhere  without  great  exceptions.     For  Hamburg, 


326  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

though  an  intensely  commercial  city,  is  also  a  city  full  of  pub- 
lic spirit  and  charities.  It  possesses  admirable  water-works, 
excellent  hospitals,  large  churches,  and  shows  a  vast  public 
ambition.  Since  the  fire  in  1842,  which  burned  over  the 
finest  part  of  the  town,  destroying  sixty-one  streets  and  seven- 
teen hundred  and  forty-nine  houses,  Hamburg  has  rebuilt 
the  city  on  a  truly  splendid  scale.  Geneva  itself  hardly  pre- 
sents a  finer  view  at  the  beautiful  foot  of  its  lake  than  Ham- 
burg, when,  in  the  evening,  brilliant  gas-lamps  illuminate  the 
fine  blocks  around  the  Binnen  Alster  basin,  and  the  water, 
lit  up  by  a  full  moon,  shows  off  the  architecture  around  them 
in  a  sort  of  magical  beauty.  The  Alster  is  full  of  pleasure- 
boats,  and  what  is  more  important,  of  little  steamers,  clean 
and  snug,  hardly  bigger  than  gondolas,  and  covered  in  with 
glass,  which  perform  omnibus  duty  and  make,  every  ten  min- 
utes, the  tour  of  the  Alster  (about  three  miles),  calling  at  the 
several  stations  and  connecting  up  town  and  down  town  in  a 
most  agreeable  manner.  The  great  commercial  advantage  of 
Hamburg,  not  to  speak  of  its  fine  harbor  (it  is  eighty  miles 
from  the  ocean  and  can  not  be  reached  in  winter  by  even  the 
great  steamers  which  stop  at  Cuxhaven,  just  at  the  mouth),  is 
the  fact  that  cargoes  entering  here  pay  only  a  duty  of  a  quar- 
ter per  cent,  on  the  valuation,  and  that  the  merchants'  writ- 
ten oath  is  taken  without  examination  for  this  valuation. 
This  advantage  may  now  be  lost.  Hamburg  is  evidently 
preparing  to  be  swallowed  by  Prussia.  On  Wednesday  last 
her  own  troops  were  disbanded,  and  on  Thursday  two  bat- 
talions of  Prussians  marched  quietly  in  to  take  their  places. 
Prussia  has  asked  her  to  furnish  2000  troops  toward  the 
North  German  Confederate  army.  She  is  trying  to  get  off 
with  1000.  But  shrewd  people  here  foresee  that  in  less  than 
five  years  the  strict  independence  of  Hamburg  will  have  de- 
parted.    She  was  never  in  a  condition  to  defend  it.     It  has 


Churches  in  Ha7nbiirg.  327 

been  guaranteed  by  the  jealousies  and  interests  of  the  great 
powers  hitherto.  But  Prussia  needs  Hamburg,  and  she  is 
strong  enough  to  defy  objections  to  so  natural  a  demand,  as 
that  a  city  which  she  would  be  called  on  to  defend  should  ac- 
knowledge allegiance  and  fall  into  the  Soll-Verein,  a  customs- 
union,  and  in  short  into  the  German  nationality,  now  so  rapid- 
ly forming.  Hanover  has  gained  nothing  by  her  squirms  but 
a  heavier  hand,  and  Hamburg  will  probably  yield  with  grace 
in  due  time.  Doubtless  the  consolidation  of  Hamburg  with 
Prussia  and  her  union  with  the  Soll-Verein  would  raise  local 
prices  ;  but  her  wiser  citizens  seem  to  see  more  advantages 
in  the  union  than  disadvantage  ;  and  Hamburg,  with  some 
wry  faces  among  the  middle  classes,  will  follow  Frankfort 
soon. 

Hamburg  possesses  several  fine  commodious  churches,  in- 
cluding her  suburbs.  She  has  seven  Lutheran  parishes  and 
as  many  churches,  each  with  several  ministers.  The  same 
division  of  sentiment  found  in  all  other  German  cities,  be- 
tv/een  the  "  Orthodox "  and  the  Liberal  party,  exists  here. 
The  Orthodox  include  usually  the  rich  and  conservative 
classes,  and  have  perhaps  the  most  ecclesiastical  zeal.  The 
Liberals  include  the  active  merchants  and  the  thinking  class, 
perhaps  also  the  more  careless  spirits.  Both  classes  possess 
even  too  great  a  freedom  from  Sabbatarian  bigotry  and  as- 
ceticism. The  substantial  and  discreet  people.  Orthodox 
and  Liberal,  make  no  scruple  of  attending  the  theatre  or  the 
opera  Sunday  evenings.  There  is,  however,  a  growing  feel- 
ing in  favor  of  a  stricter  observance  of  the  Sunday,  which  it 
is  hoped  will  increase.  Much  account  is  made  of  confirma- 
tion in  the  Lutheran  Church.  At  sixteen  or  seventeen  the 
young  people  pass  through  a  special  religious  course  to  pre- 
pare them  for  their  first  communion.  There  is  no  doubt  a 
good  deal  of  merely  technical  interest  connected  with  this 


328  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

event,  and  it  is  too  much  after  the  pattern  of  a  Catholic  su- 
perstition to  render  it  as  useful  as  it  might  be  made.  Relig- 
ious lessons  are  given  with  a  good  deal  of  punctiliousness  in 
the  schools,  either  by  a  pastor  or  a  candidate  in  theology. 
Nobody  is  allowed  to  keep  a  school  for  more  than  twelve 
children  without  a  special  license.  Most  of  the  schools  are 
private.  There  is  one  public  school  of  much  importance 
where  an  academical  or  commercial  training  may  be  had. 
Hamburg  abounds  in  hospitals  and  infirmaries  ;  one  for  aged 
persons  of  respectable  antecedents.  An  orphan  asylum  con- 
taining 500  foundlings  or  orphans  enjoys  a  very  generous 
support.  On  the  first  Thursday  of  every  July  a  special  fes- 
tival is  held  in  Hamburg,  for  the  aid  of  this  asylum.  The 
children,  at  6  a.m.,  boys  and  girls,  form  in  procession  and 
march  through  the  streets,  soliciting  contributions  from  the 
inhabitants.  They  are  led  by  older  boys  who  are  crowned 
with  wreaths  and  who  collect  the  general  contribution.  The 
"  best  boy  "  is  "  king,"  and  comes  in  for  a  large  special  con- 
tribution. All  of  them  walk  cap  in  hand,  and  receive  each 
what  any  citizen  may  be  inclined  to  give.  All  they  receive 
is  taken  charge  of  by  their  governors,  when,  at  about  6  p.m., 
they  return  home  and  make  over  their  gains.  These  are  put 
to  the  individual  accounts  of  the  children,  and  returned  to 
them  when  they  leave  the  asylum.  The  rich  merchants  have 
an  honorable  fashion  of  endorsing  public  charities.  One 
rich  Jew  has  founded  a  hospital  called  after  his  deceased 
wife,  which  is  open  to  Jews  and  Christians  alike.  There  is 
a  diminishing  prejudice  against  the  Jews,  who  are  numerous 
and  among  the  richest  and  best  citizens,  but  it  still  continues 
in  some  force.  They  are  not  admitted  into  some  of  the 
schools  or  into  most  of  the  hospitals  and  asylums. 

The  wealthier  citizens  have  founded  a  beautiful  zoological 
garden,  with  most  tasteful  grounds,  where  the  noblest  and 


Bridal  Crowns.  329 

rarest  animals  are  to  be  seen  in  great  perfection.  The  ant- 
bear,  a  very  rare  animal,  is  one  of  the  creatures  here  of  which 
they  are  most  proud.  They  hav6  the  finest  aquaria  I  have 
ever  seen,  arranged  with  the  highest  scientific  skill,  and 
where  the  habits  of  fish  and  the  growth  of  sea-plants  may  be 
studied  with  great  facility. 

The  bank  of  the  Elbe  is  adorned  as  far  as  Blankenese, 
nine  miles  out  of  town,  with  the  beautiful  and  costly  country 
houses  of  the  wealthier  citizens  of  Hamburg  and  Altona. 
No  finer  houses  or  more  exquisite  grounds  are  to  be  seen  in 
the  suburbs  of  any  city  I  have  visited.  The  Elbe,  full  of 
ships  and  steamers,  affords  a  most  lively  prospect  from  these 
charming  villas.  The  capitalists  see  from  their  own  doors 
their  richly-freighted  vessels  going  out  and  returning  to  port, 
while  the  coast  of  Hanover  and  the  pretty  hills  of  Hasburg 
bound  their  prospect.  The  fishermen  along  this  shore  are 
celebrated  for  their  neat  housekeeping,  and  many  citizens 
resort  in  the  hot  weather  to  their  roofs  for  a  chang:e  of  air. 
Every  thing  along  the  Elbe  indicates  wealth,  prosperity,  ac- 
tivity and  power.  The  harbor  is  a  forest  of  masts.  The 
streets  running  to  the  Elbe  are  crowded  with  business,  and 
bear  no  mean  resemblance  to  the  vast  commercial  parts  of 
London  or  New  York. 

The  inhabitants  of  certain  villages — the  Fierlanden — be- 
longing to  Hamburg,  have  a  prescriptive  right  to  sell  fruits, 
vegetables  and  fish  in  the  city.  They  wear  a  very  pictur- 
esque costume  ;  each  village  of  four  has  a  different  one, 
which  is  hundreds  of  years  old,  and  wholly  unchanged.  It 
is  rich  in  color  and  embroidery  on  Sundays  and  festivals.  In 
one  of  the  Fierlanden  villages  the  pastor  has  the  custody  of 
three  crowns,  which  are  worn  by  brides,  who  pay  one,  two  or 
three  t/iakrs,  as  they  can  afford,  for  the  use  of  these  crowns 
on  their  wedding-day.    They  are  of  three  degrees  of  richness. 


^•^o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 


:iO 


The  fee  is  a  perquisite  of  the  pastor's  wife.  The  child's 
nurses  of  Hamburg  are  gay  in  ribbons  and  colored  dresses 
and  white  caps.  The  maid-servants  carry  their  market-bas- 
kets under  a  showy  shawl  worn  very  gracefully  over  one 
arm,  beneath  which  they  conceal  their  burden. 

We  visited  the  Rauhe-haus — the  celebrated  school  estab- 
lished by  Dr.  Wichern  at  Horn,  three  miles  out  of  Hamburg, 
on  a  small  farm — the  object  of  which  is  the  reform  of  vicious 
boys  and  girls  by  a  special  treatment,  in  which  kindness 
and  skillful  adaptation  of  occupation  and  wholesome  induce- 
ments to  order  and  virtue,  take  the  place  of  punishments. 
The  institution  is  a  collection  of  separate  houses,  all  either 
small  or  of  only  moderate  size,  scattered  over  the  farm,  the 
object  being  to  separate  and  not  congregate  the  children. 
There  are  here  seventy  boys  and  forty  girls  of  the  rougher 
class,  and  also  twenty-five  boys  from  good  families,  but  of 
unruly  tempers,  whom  their  parents  have  found  unmanagea- 
ble. These  last  are  separated  from  the  rest,  except  in  cer- 
tain general  chapel  exercises.  They  live  in  a  nice  boarding- 
house,  and  receive  a  methodical  instruction  in  the  usual 
branches  of  high-school  education.  The  rest  are  associated 
in  squads  of  about  twelve  in  family  houses,  where  they  eat 
and  sleep  and  pass  their  leisure  hours,  under  the  special  care 
of  a  brother  of  the  "Inner  Mission."  These  brothers  are  an 
association  of  young  men,  originally  formed  by  Dr.  Wichern, 
who  devote  their  lives  to  the  care  of  poor  and  exposed  chil- 
dren in  all  parts  of  the  world.  They  get  their  preparation 
in  the  Rauhe-haus  at  Horn,  where  the  chief  labor  is  thrown 
upon  them.  There  are,  it  is  said,  some  three  hundred  of 
them,  and  their  influence  wherever  they  are  scattered  must 
be  excellent.  There  are  perhaps  a  dozen  of  them  at  Horn 
always  under  Dr.  Wichern's  eye  and  care.  A  few  sisters, 
also,  of  a  similar  devotedness,  are  in  charge  of  the  girls. 


The  Rauhe-haus.  331 

There  is  a  Superintendent,  or  Vicar,  who  takes  more  imme- 
diate charge  of  the  school,  as  Dr.  Wichern  has  other  duties 
which  carry  him  half  the  year  to  Berlin.  The  boys  are  in- 
structed in  the  elementary  branches  for  three  •  or  four  hours 
a  day.  They  have  each  a  little  plot  of  ground  to  cultivate. 
All  of  them  learn  some  trade  under  a  competent  master  on 
the  ground ;  printing,  tailoring,  shoe-making,  smithery,  car- 
pentry, I  observed  going  on  in  separate  apartments.  The 
houses  where  the  boys  live  were  plain  and  neat.  Every  thing 
on  the  grounds,  indeed,  had  a  commendable  simplicity. 
There  was  no  superfluity  and  no  over-refinement.  In  one 
of  the  houses,  laid  out  on  a  table,  were  the  simple  gifts  which 
his  companions  had  bestowed  on  one  of  the  boys  whose 
birthday  fell  on  the  day  of  our  visit.  A  few  coarse  but  in- 
structive wood  engravings,  a  rude  toy  or  two,  one  handsome 
marble  (an  alley  we  used  to  call  it),  a  pair  of  wooden  slip- 
pers, made  up  the  assortment.  In  the  chapel  every  morning, 
the  names  of  all  the  boys  who  have  ever  been  in  the  school, 
whose  birthday  the  current  day  chronicles,  are  called  out ;  a 
short  history  of  their  career  since  leaving  the  Rauhe-haus  is 
recited,  and  any  thing  that  can  properly  and  honestly  be  said 
of  those  still  present,  is  also  given.  Thus  a  very  wholesome 
interest  in  each  other  and  a  very  commendable  ambition  as  to 
their  future  career  is  excited.  The  young  man  who  showed 
us  round  the  school  was  a  candidate  in  theology  educated  at 
Halle,  and  a  favorite  of  Tholuck,  I  judged,  as  he  had  travel- 
ed with  him  in  Switzerland  And  no  wonder ;  for  his  face 
was  as  full  of  purity  and  benevolence  as  it  could  hold,  and 
his  intelligence  and  civility  were  both  instructive  and  charm- 
ing. He  was  himself  a  perfect  recommendation  of  the  work 
he  was  serving.  Dr.  Wichern,  whom  we  saw  for  a  few  mo- 
ments only,  is  a  man  of  large  mould,  with  strong  blue  eyes, 
abundant  hair  perfectly  white,  and  a  face  of  great  resolution 


332  The  Old  World  i?i  its  Ncza  Face. 

and  perfect  kindness.  He  is  a  man  of  no  sentimentality, 
but  great  practical  sense.  This  work  is  likely  to  remain. 
Eicht  hundred  children  have  been  under  his  care.  The 
school  is  not  gratuitous.  All  who  can  are  properly  required 
to  pay  for  their  privileges.  The  work  of  the  boys  is  also 
made  profitable.  The  institution  receives  many  benefactions 
from  an  appreciative  public.  On  the  whole,  there  was  less  to 
object  to  in  its  management  than  in  any  institution  for  similar 
objects  I  have  ever  visited.  The  children  (especially  the  boys) 
looked  contented  and  under  cheerful  and  inspiring  influences. 
The  girls  pleased  me  less.  But  bad  girls  are  a  worse  class 
than  bad  boys,  they  fall  from  so  much  higher  an  estate. 

We  stayed  in  Hamburg  one  day  longer  than  we  intended, 
to  hear  Joseph  Joachim,  the  most  distinguished  of  living 
violinists,  in  a  charity  concert.  Joachim  lives  in  Hanover, 
where  the  blind  king,  who  has  just  lost  his  throne,  has  cher- 
ished him  among  other  great  artists,  with  peculiar  fondness. 
But  he  has  not  been  spoiled.  He  has  the  rare  character  of 
being  as  distinguished  for  his  personal  worth  and  general 
culture  as  for  his  skill  on  the  violin.  He  is  a  savan,  it  is 
said,  who  still  attends  lectures  at  Gottingen,  and  is  the  peer 
and  companion  of  learned  and  accomplished  men.  He  is 
about  thirty-four  years  of  age,  stout  and  heavy  of  mould  as  to 
his  features,  of  a  decidedly  lymphatic  aspect,  without  token 
of  skill,  either  in  the  grace  or  agility  of  his  bearing.  Over  a 
pale  and  flabby  countenance  a  high  forehead  rises,  crowned 
with  abundant  and  flowing  hair.  His  square  and  heavy  jaw 
promises  little.  But  when  he  takes  the  violin  and  puts  it  to 
his  shoulder,  and  bends  down  his  somewhat  dreamy  face  to 
the  instrument,  a  new  life  takes  possession  of  him.  His  se- 
rious, unsmiling  face  becomes  lustrous  with  a  spiritual  beau- 
ty. His  eyes,  which  he  half  shuts  when  he  plays,  as  if  he 
would  be  all  ear  himself,  add  to  the  lost  aspect  he  wears. 


Joseph  jfoachim.  333 

He  seems  to  forget  his  audience  and  himself,  and  to  be  whol- 
ly absorbed  in  his  business.  His  facility  is  perfect;  he 
wholly  removes  the  impression  of  effort  or  difficulty,  and  al- 
lows the  hearer  to  be  rapt  in  the  music.  AVholly  without 
clap-trap,  vanity  or  self-display,  he  plays  only  the  best  music 
in  the  most  faithful  and  exquisite  manner.  In  his  most  rapid 
passages  no  note  is  slurred ;  his  transitions  were  exquisite, 
and  his  tone  perfect.  He  played  nothing  for  the  sake  of  the 
difficulties  to  be  mastered.  On  the  whole,  no  artist  since 
Jenny  Lind  has  made  upon  me  the  impression  of  a  stronger 
and  nobler  character.  Joachim  looks  like  a  plain  clerical 
Professor.  He  wears  glasses,  dresses  very  simply,  and  is  al- 
together a  very  rare  and  delightful  artist  and  man. 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  the  Church  of  St.  Nicholas 
now  building  in  Hamburg.  It  is  the  largest  and  most  im- 
posing of  modern  churches,  so  far  as  my  observation  has  ex- 
tended. Of  English  Gothic,  of  a  pure  style,  it  is  finished 
within  with  perfect  elegance,  and,  for  a  Protestant  and  Lu- 
theran church,  overcomes  the  difficulties  which  an  edifice 
without  altar  or  cathedral-stalls  has  to  contend  with,  most 
bravely.  The  usual  emptiness  and  bareness  of  even  the 
English  cathedrals  is  overcome  by  the  beauty  of  a  marble 
screen  and  the  sumptuous  splendor  of  a  white  marble  pul- 
pit, which  in  exquisiteness  of  workmanship  and  richness  of 
design  is  nowhere  exceeded.  The  spire,  which  will  be  nearly 
as  lofty  as  that  at  Strasburg,  is  going  up  slowly,  by  the  aid 
of  weekly  contributions  from  Hamburg  Protestants.  It  has 
been  twenty  years  and  more  in  progress,  and  will  be  finished 
in  four  years.  The  church  will  seat  two  thousand  people, 
but  I  hear  that  except  on  festival  days  it  rarely  has  more  than 
five  hundred  at  the  chief  service.  It  is  built  on  the  site  of  a 
former  church  burned  in  the  great  fire.  It  is  still  remember- 
ed that  the  chime  of  bells  in  the  great  tower  began  to  ring 


334  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

of  their  own  accord  when  the  church  and  spire  were  wrapped 
in  flames,  and  in  the  height  of  the  vast  conflagration  which 
was  devouring  the  city.  The  effect,  it  is  said,  was  terrific. 
This  churcli  owes  its  re-edification,  like  many  other  churches 
on  the  Continent,  more  to  the  pressure  of  historical  associa- 
tions and  local  pride  than  to  any  present  want  of  so  vast  a 
building.  From  the  point  of  practical  religion,  I  can  not  but 
look  upon  the  size  of  the  churches  on  the  Continent  as  a 
great  detriment  to  the  interests  of  public  worship.  They  are 
usually  cold,  thinly  attended,  and  very  difficult  to  be  heard 
in,  adapted  to  a  spectacular  worship  or  an  altar  service,  and 
not  to  preaching.  The  multiplication  of  small  churches  is 
the  most  urgent  interest  of  Protestantism,  if  we  except  the 
increase  of  Christian  faith  and  zeal. 

Hamburg  is  very  sure,  under  the  vast  impulse  which  the 
union  of  Northern  Germany  must  give  to  commerce  and 
trade,  to  grow  with  surpassing  speed  into  the  first  rank  of 
commercial  cities.  It  would  not  surprise  me  to  see  it  doub- 
led in  ten  years.  Prussia  is  now  the  third  among  the  na- 
tions in  its  commercial  marine.  Its  ports  are  rapidly  grow- 
ing. Hamburg  has  an  immense  trade  with  North  and  South 
America,  with  England,  and  with  the  Mediterranean.  She  is 
destined  to  become,  even  more  than  she  already  is,  the  first 
port  on  the  European  Continent. 

Bremen,  near  by,  I  did  not  visit.  It  is  the  seat  of  the  The- 
ological School  of  the  German  Methodists,  who  have  a  grow- 
ins:  influence  on  the  Continent.  The  old  Hernhutters  or  Mo- 
ravians  have  their  theological  centre  at  Niskau,  which  I  fear 
I  shall  not  have  time  to  see. 

Let  me  mention  one  book  which  seems  to  be  attracting 
special  attention  among  Ethnologists  abroad,  as  an  original 
work  carrying  Mommsen's  method  of  dealing  with  Roman 
history  a  little  farther  still,  and  into  a  more  difficult  field. 


New  Work  on  Lans:tiaf'e. 


335 


While  Mommsen  seeks  to  draw  out  the  true  state  of  Roman 
life  from  an  examination  of  the  laws  of  the  Romans,  subject- 
ed to  an  exhaustive  analysis,  Adolphe  Pictel  seeks  to  infer 
the  life  of  the  Indo-Europeans  from  a  study  of  the  Aryan 
words.  His  work  is  brimful  of  suggestion,  and  carries  even 
the  most  cultivated  student  into  "  fresh  fields  and  pastures 
new."  It  occupies  an  untrodden  field.  "  Les  Origines 
Indo-Europeennes,  ou  les  Aryas  primitifs.  Essai  de  Paleonto- 
logie  Linguistique,  par  Adolphe  Pictel."  Paris  :  Joel  Cherbu- 
liez.     2  vols.     Somebody  will  thank  me  for  this  title. 


XXVIII. 


BERLIN. 


October  24,  1867. 

D  ERLIN — the  capital  of  Prussia  and  the  centre  of  German 
power,  material,  intellectual  and  political — is  situated  on 
a  small,  stagnant  stream,  called  the  Spree,  in  the  midst  of  a 
vast,  sandy  plain,  which,  on  the  north,  stretches  up  to  the 
Baltic,  and  is  swept  by  winds  that  envelop  it  for  a  large 
part  of  the  year  in  clouds  and  fogs.  It  is  in  north  latitude 
51°,  and  has  a  cold,  damp  climate,  which,  with  its  uninterest- 
ing situation,  makes  its  growth  almost  a  miracle.  Yet  in  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  it  has  become  a  city  of  600,000  from 
perhaps  not  more  than  50,000  at  that  date,  and  chiefly  through 
the  vigorous  policy  of  Frederick  the  Great,  in  making  it  the 
centre  of  military  and  intellectual  life.  Trade  and  commerce 
have  obeyed  the  attraction  of  these  higher  powers,  and  Berlin 
is  now  a  vast  capital,  second  only  to  Paris  in  importance  and 
in  magnificence  upon  the  European  Continent.  Its  streets 
are  wide  and  well  built.  The  French  style  of  large  buildings, 
with  separate  floors  for  private  families,  prevails.  "  Unter 
den  Linden,"  its  famous  promenade,  answers,  though  poorly, 
to  the  Champs  Elysees  of  Paris.  A  wide  and  shaded  walk 
for  pedestrians,  with  a  side-road  for  horsemen,  runs  through 
the  middle  of  the  street,  which  is  lined  on  both  sides  with  the 
principal  hotels,  cafes  and  shops.  This  street,  which  is  about 
a  mile  long,  is  occupied  at  the  southern  end  for  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  by  the  Palaces  of  the  King  and  the  Crown  Prince,  the 


Frederick  the  Great.  337 

old  Schloss  built  by  Frederick  the  Great,  the  Arsenal,  the 
Dom,  or  principal  church,  and  other  public  buildings.  In 
the  middle  of  it  stands  the  magnificent  equestrian  statue  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  around  the  pedestal  of  which  are  placed 
in  life-size,  and  in  strict  historical  portraits,  the  statues  of  his 
chief  generals,  and  of  the  statesmen  and  philosophers  that 
adorned  his  reign.  Along  the  sides  of  the  street  are  fine 
statues  in  marble  or  bronze  of  the  military  heroes  and  states- 
men of  Prussia.  A  bridge  which  crosses  the  Spree,  near  the 
Palace,  is  decorated  with  eight  groups  of  fine  statuary  indi- 
cating the  career  of  the  Prussian  soldier.  Minerva  inducts 
him  in  early  youth  into  the  profession  of  arms  by  holding  up 
to  him  a  shield  on  which  is  inscribed  simply  the  names  of 
those  great  warriors,  Alexander,  Caesar,  Frederick ;  in  the 
next  group  she  is  teaching  him  to  throw  the  spear ;  in  the 
third,  she  gives  him  a  sword ;  in  the  fourth,  she  crowns  his 
first  success  in  arms,  and  so  to  the  last,  when,  holding  him, 
done  to  death  in  battles,  in  her  arms,  she  points  him  to  the 
opening  heaven  for  his  final  guerdon.  Berlin  is  full  of  street 
statuary,  and  especially  of  military  monuments.  Above  any 
place  I  have  seen,  it  abounds  in  statues  of  horses,  now  with 
and  now  without  riders.  The  Emperor  Nicholas  gave  two 
beautiful  statues  of  horses,  which  came  in  the  days  of  the  re- 
volution of  1848,  and  are  now  set  up  before  the  old  Palace. 
The  cornices  and  tops  of  the  public  buildings  are  crowned 
with  figures  of  horses.  The  Brandenburg  gate — built  1 789 — 
at  the  opposite  end  of  Unter  den  Linden,  is  surmounted  with 
a  chariot  and  four  horses,  which  are  of  special  interest  from 
having  been  carried  off  by  Napoleon  to  Paris,  kept  for  eight 
years,  and  restored  to  Berlin  in  18 14,  only  after  long  and 
mortifying  negotiations.  The  absence  of  any  good  building- 
stone  in  the  neighborhood  has  made  Berlin  a  city  of  brick. 
covered   almost  in  all  cases  with  ornamented  and  painted 

P 


338  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

stucco.  This  gives  a  faded  and  unsubstantial  character  to 
the  architecture  generally.  The  dampness  of  the  climate, 
with  the  dust,  rusts  the  exterior  of  the  buildings,  and  there  is 
nothing  bright  and  fresh,  as  in  Paris,  about  even  the  newest 
part  of  Berlin.  The  Thier-garden  (garden  of  animals),  just 
outside  the  Brandenburg  gate,  is  the  "  Bois  de  Boulogne  "  of 
Berlin.  It  is  very  extensive  and  covered  with  fine  trees, 
through  which  rustic  roads  and  paths  are  cut,  and  among 
which  a  few  fine  statues  are  sprinkled.  On  one  side  of  tlais 
the  favorite  residences  of  the  richer  class  are  found,  and  nev; 
and  showy  streets  run  from  it,  full  of  large  and  costly  private 
houses.  The  United  States  Minister  occupies  one  of  them, 
in  Regenten  Strasse,  where  he  exercises  an  elegant  hospital- 
ity to  his  countrymen  and  to  the  savans  of  Berlin,  among 
whom  he  finds  himself  so  much  at  home.  The  country  is 
fortunate  in  being  represented  at  Berlin  at  this  critical  and 
pregnant  moment  by  a  man  known  so  well  beforehand  to  the 
literati  and  statesmen  of  Prussia.  Mr.  Bancroft  has  received 
a  most  distinguished  welcome  at  the  Court  and  among  the 
savans.  Bismarck,  it  is  said,  has  shown  him  very  unusual 
respect,  and  the  King,  receiving  him  at  his  own  table,  has 
expressed  his  satisfaction  at  being  able,  for  the  first  time,  to 
talk  with  an  American  Minister  in  his  own  German  tongue. 
The  flatness  of  Berlin  is  so  perfect  that  I  have  hunted  in 
vain  for  any  natural  elevation  in  or  around  it  from  which  the 
city  could  be  looked  down  upon.  The  evenness  is  very  un- 
favorable to  any  street  effects,  and  indeed  to  any  easy  ac- 
quaintance with  the  topography.  Excepting  the  main  avenue, 
there  is  hardly  a  commanding  street  in  Berlin.  Wilhelm, 
Leipziger  and  other  streets,  very  long  and  very  monotonous, 
run  at  rectangles,  and  an  occasional  open  square,  always 
adorned  with  statuary,  diversifies  the  vast  extent  of  buildings'. 
But  the  main  effect  is  lack  of  expression  and  want  of  variety. 


The  Royal  Chapel.  339 

Not  that  there  is  any  absence  of  stir  and  bustle.  The  streets 
are  full  of  droskies  and  private  carriages,  many  of  them  ele- 
gant, and  all  roomy  and  comfortable.  Well-dressed  people 
throng  the  narrow  sidewalks.  Deep  gutters,  down  which  a 
fall  would  be  almost  as  dangerous  as  a  slip  into  an  Alpine 
crevasse,  line  many  of  these  trottoirs.  At  other  places  the 
sidewalks  are  level  with  the  carriage-way.  Crossing  the  streets 
is  perilous,  and  the  sidewalks  are  insecure,  at  least  in  the  feel- 
ing of  a  stranger.  The  hack-hire  is  very  cheap,  and  the  pour- 
boire,  or  drink-money,  is  not  rigorously  exacted  as  in  Paris. 

The  hotels  are  rapidly  improving,  and  nothing  could  be 
more  comfortable  than  the  Hotel  de  Rome,  where  we  have 
been  for  ten  days  past.  The  old  Palace,  the  beautiful  domed 
tower  of  which,  though  planned  by  Old  Fritz,  was  not  finish- 
ed until  the  present  reign,  is  a  sort  of  imitation  of  the  Lou- 
vre— a  vast  range  of  courts  within  courts,  and  halls  on  halls 
— many  of  them  finished  in  the  most  costly  and  elaborate 
style.  The  marble  columns,  the  beautiful  inlaid  floors,  the 
tapestried  walls,  the  collection  of  royal  gifts  from  Russian, 
English  and  other  sovereigns,  the  abundant  ornamentation 
in  silver  and  in  gold — all  make  these  show-rooms  very  su- 
perb. The  most  noticeable  part  of  the  palace  is  the  chapel, 
finished  within  late  years,  in  the  richest  marbles  and  adorned 
with  frescoes  from  the  most  skillful  modern  artists.  Round 
in  form  and  immensely  lofty  in  its  dome,  from  which  it  is 
lighted,  it  is  a  most  gorgeous  place  of  worship,  and  compares 
not  unfavorably,  in  brilliancy  and  splendor,  with  the  most  dec- 
orated Roman  Catholic  shrines.  Protestantism  seems  here 
to  have  labored  to  see  how  near  it  could  come  in  costliness 
and  show  to  the  standard  of  the  old  hierarchical  display.  An 
altar,  suiTnounted  with  a  crucifix  of  fabulous  cost,  occupies  one 
arc  of  the  circular  room.  The  place  is  used  only  on  occa- 
sions of  festival  and  state  worship.      Passing  through  one 


340  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

of  the  halls,  we  were  struck  with  what  appeared  to  be  a  man- 
tle-piece of  solid  silver.  We  were  told  that  it  was  only  a  copy- 
in  plated  metal  of  an  original  one  which  was  actually  of  solid 
silver,  but  was  melted  into  money  by  Frederick  the  Great  at 
the  close  of  his  wars,  wherewith  to  build  the  Palace  at  Pots- 
dam, which  he  undertook,  in  part  at  least,  to  show  Europe 
that  his  exchequer  was  not  ruined  by  his  last  campaign.  In 
the  "  White  Hall,"  fitted  up  in  gorgeous  splendor  and  deco- 
rated with  statues  of  the  twelve  Brandenburg  electors,  and 
eight  allegorical  figures  representing  the  Prussian  Provinces 
(the  new  ones  are  not  yet  added  !),  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Prussian  Parliament  was  held  in  1847. 

To-day,  the  Prussian  Parliament  —  which  with  so  little 
criticism  has  sustained  the  late  vigorous  and  confessedly  un- 
lawful measure  of  the  government  —  was  dissolved  by  the 
King  in  person.  About  2h  o'clock  the  main  body  of  the 
hall  began  to  fill  with  the  nobles,  generals,  state  functionaries 
and  deputies  of  the  kingdom.  Sitting  among  a  favored  few 
in  the  tribune,  or  gallery,  to  which  tickets  from  our  Minister 
had  admitted  us,  we  looked  down  upon  the  gathering  of  this 
gorgeous  assembly.  Entering  informally  as  they  arrived,  one 
or  two  at  a  time,  we  had  an  opportunity  to  watch  somewhat 
deliberately  their  individual  appearance.  Half,  at  least,  were 
either  soldiers  or  in  military  uniforms,  of  all  kinds  and  de- 
grees of  splendor — red,  white,  green — but  always  profusely 
covered  with  gold  lace,  and  commonly  hung  about  with 
orders  and  stars,  sashes  and  ribbons.  Another  portion  were 
in  the  usual  court-dress,  which  is  a  kind  of  Quaker  coat  that 
has  broken  out  into  colors  and  gold  lace.  A  few  ecclesias- 
tics or  professors,  in  solemn  gown  and  cape,  with  an  order 
or  two  on  their  breasts  shining  all  the  more  brilliantly  from 
its  black  background,  moved  in  the  motley  throng. 

Perhaps  fifty  gentlemen  in  plain  clothes  were  mixed  in  the 


The  King  and  Bistnarck.  341 

assembly.  There  were  no  seats  for  this  company,  notwith- 
standing the  venerable  and  infirm  appearance  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  them.  Indeed,  the  advanced  age  of  most  officials  and 
notabilities  in  Prussia  is  one  of  the  characteristic  features  of 
a  civilization  where  routine  and  slowness  of  advancement 
are  painfully  in  the  way  of  merit  and  vigor.  A  few  chairs 
on  one  side  of  the  simple  throne  (a  classic  chair  upon  a 
slightly  raised  platform)  were  reserved  for  the  privy  council 
and  ministers  of  state,  and  in  these,  at  3  o'clock,  twenty  dig- 
nitaries took  their  places,  with  Bismarck  at  the  left  nearest 
the  throne.  Suddenly  a  herald  announced  the  King  in  a 
loud  voice,  and  William  I.  came  unattended,  and  cap  in  hand, 
and  at  once  ascended  the  platform.  He  was  in  full  uniform 
of  a  dark  green,  and  in  boots  and  spurs,  and  after  bowing  to 
the  assembly,  put  on  his  cavalry  cap  with  its  fountain  plume. 
One  short,  simultaneous  and  percussive  "  Owa"  welcomed 
him.  Bismarck  advanced,  and,  with  a  very  low  salute,  put 
the  open  portfolio  containing  the  Royal  speech  into  the 
King's  hands. '  He  read  it  in  a  simple  and  rather  awkward 
manner,  without  pretension  and  without  effect.  One  sup- 
pressed murmur  of  applause  greeted  the  close  of  a  paragraph 
referring  to  the  harmony  of  the  session.  At  the  close  (the 
reading  could  not  have  taken  three  minutes)  Bismarck  took 
the  address  from  the  King's  hands,  and  turning  toward  the 
assembly,  pronounced  the  Parliament,  in  the  name  of  the 
King,  dissolved.  The  King  bowed  and  immediately  de- 
scended from  the  throne  (he  had  not  once  sat  down),  and  left 
the  hall  amid  a  few  hearty  huzzas.  Bismarck  was  dressed 
in  the  same  white  uniform  I  had  seen  him  in  at  the  Em- 
peror's ball  at  Paris.  He  wore  jack -boots  and  spurs.  His 
fine,  great  head  upon  his  tall,  full  figure,  gave  him  a  marked 
superiority  over  the  whole  assembly.  Power,  prudence,  self- 
possession,  capacity,  success,  are  stamped  upon  his  features 


342  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

and  bearing.  If  he  is  worn  with  care,  he  does  not  show  it ; 
perhaps  he  carries  it  in  those  great  sacks  that  hang  under 
his  eyes !  He  seems  about  fifty-four,  and  thoroughly  well- 
preserved.  His  habits  are  careful.  He  rides  on  horseback, 
and  bathes  in  summer  in  the  open  river,  a  few  miles  from  the 
town.  He  seems  to  possess  much  of  the  attainments  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  with  a  tact  in  statesmanship  which  never 
marked  that  powerful  politician.  If  he  had  fallen  from  the 
skies  he  could  not  have  come  more  opportunely,  or  with 
qualifications  more  out  of  the  usual  line  of  German  states- 
manship. Knowing  all  that  German  statesmen  ever  know, 
he  has  a  thoroughly  un-German  dash  and  practical  quality  in 
him  which  marks  him  out  from  his  predecessors,  and  leaves 
him  wholly  alone  in  his  kind.  With  unsurpassed  courage 
and  competency,  he  possesses  distinguished  prudence  and 
self-control.  He  does  not  undertake  the  impossible,  nor  in- 
vent a  policy.  He  merely  shapes  and  articulates  a  public 
sentiment  which  for  a  hundred  years  has  waited  for  its  crys- 
tallizing moment.  He  is  not  a  moral  genius,  nor  are  disin- 
terestedness and  pure  philanthrophy  his  inspirers.  But  he 
is  a  patriot,  and  sees  Prussia's  opportunity  to  lead  Germany 
to  her  destiny,  and  probably  no  man  could  possess  qualities 
or  antecedents  better  fitted  to  the  work.  An  aristocrat,  he 
puts  himself  at  the  head  of  the  party  of  movement,  and  ad- 
vocates all  possible  reforms  in  the  interests  of  a  larger  liberty 
and  a  freer  life.  He  swallows  and  digests  his  antecedents, 
and  evidently  despises  all  criticism  which  merely  convicts 
him  of  disagreement  with  himself — where  the  disagreement  is 
necessary  and  born  of  new  circumstances  and  new  opportuni- 
ties. He  is  clearly  a  whole  head  and  shoulders  above  not 
only  his  contemporaries  in  Prussia,  but  European  statesmen 
in  general ;  and  the  more  I  see  of  the  slack,  tape-tied, 
broken-spirited  character  of  German   politicians  —  dreamy, 


The  Royal  Fatni/y.  343 

mechanical,  wordy,  theoretical  and  inefficient  —  the  more  I 
admire  the  prompt,  incisive,  practical  and  bold  qualities  of 
this  redeemer  of  Germany.  But  I  am  getting  on  too  fast. 
After  the  King  left,  Bismarck  passed  into  the  assembly  and 
greeted  personally  a  large  number  of  the  members. 

General  Moltke,  who  planned  the  late  triumphant  campaign 
with  such  prophetic  wisdom,  and  executed  it  so  precisely, 
was  very  conspicuous,  and  the  centre  of  very  special  atten- 
tion. Not  unlike  General  Dix  in  appearance,  although  much 
older,  and  quite  infirm,  Moltke,  dressed  in  a  white  uniform 
and  covered  with  orders,  had  a  most  modest  and  quiet  car- 
riage, and  looked  very  little  like  a  hero  covered  with  fresh 
laurels.  I  looked  in  vain  for  Prince  Carl,  the  cavalry  leader 
of  the  war,  nephew  of  the  King  and  a  great  favorite  of  the 
people.  The  Prince  of  Prussia,  with  his  English  whiskers 
and  great  mustache,  was  very  distinguishable.  He  occupies 
a  separate  palace  next  the  King's,  and  seems  a  fair  enough 
heir  to  the  throne.  His  wife  (Victoria,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
English  Queen)  is  a  woman  of  special  culture  and  of  a  prac- 
tical turn  of  mind,  though  capable  of  literary  conversation 
and  possessing  marked  skill  with  the  pencil.  She  has  six 
children  already.  The  King  is  seventy  years  old — a  plain, 
robust,  soldierly  man,  with  a  great  native  passion  for  military 
matters — of  unquestioned  personal  courage,  and  of  a  fair  av- 
erage understanding.  He  has  a  bluff  face,  and  seems  to  love 
a  simple  life.  He  is  an  honest  man,  but  without  any  special 
qualifications  for  the  exigencies  of  governing.  His  brother, 
the  late  king,  whose  decline  was  accompanied  with  so  many 
painful  and  humiliating  circumstances,  was  of  a  different  or- 
der. Full  of  knowledge,  taste,  and  power  of  thinking,  if  he 
had  not  been  a  king  he  would  have  been  a  savan,  and  possi- 
bly a  distinguished  one.  Their  father,  Frederick  William 
Third,  who  reigned  through  the  wars  with  Napoleon,  was  a 


344  The  Old  World  m  its  New  Face. 

man  of  a  mild  but  firm  and  excellent  character,  a  warm  and 
efficient  Protestant,  who  left  a  very  decided  stamp  upon  the 
minds  and  the  policy  of  his  children  and  of  the  country.  He 
was  blest  with  a  wife  who  had  a  character  even  finer  and  no- 
bler than  his  own.  A  Princess  of  the  Mecklenberg-Strelitz 
house,  she  had  a  lofty  soul  shrined  in  a  most  lovely  and  no- 
ble person,  and  her  spirit,  roused  to  an  exalted  patriotism  by 
the  humiliation  which  Napoleon  was  putting  upon  the  nation, 
kindled  her  husband's  feeble  temper  and  the  faint  heart  of 
all  Prussia  to  the  resistance  which  saved  the  honor  and  the 
future  of  the  country.  She  died  at  thirty-five,  wept  and  re- 
vered by  the  whole  people.  Her  statue,  carved  by  Ranch, 
whose  genius  she  had  discovered  and  whose  career  she  fash- 
ioned, lies  in  fadeless  beauty  and  grace  in  the  temple  erected 
at  Charlottenberg  to  secure  it.  The  statue  of  her  husband 
is  placed  by  her  side.  Ranch  is  said  to  have  spent  fifteen 
years  in  bringing  this  work  of  love  to  its  final  perfection,  and 
it  is  a  master-piece  of  elegance  and  fitness.  The  King  is 
doubtless  led  by  Bismarck,  who  has  the  tact  and  judgment 
to  treat  the  monarch  with  profound  deference,  while  the  King 
has  the  sense  to  appreciate  his  Minister's  superior  knowledge 
and  address,  and  to  follow  his  counsels. 

I  attended  two  sessions  of  the  Parliament  which  had  just 
risen,  in  the  temporaiy  chamber  where  it  sits.  The  room 
was  too  small  for  the  company,  and  not  worthy  the  work 
done  in  it.  The  Parliament  is  composed,  like  our  own  Con- 
gress, of  two  Chambers.  The  House  of  Deputies  is  composed 
of  Representatives,  one  for  each  one  hundred  thousand  of  the 
people.  To  favor  the  smaller  provinces  another  representa- 
tive is  allowed  them  where  the  fraction  passes  fifty  thousand  ; 
an  advantage  which  Prussia,  strong  in  her  majority,  can  read- 
ily afford.  The  Deputies  quite  fairly  represent  all  classes ; 
there  are  nobles,  commoners  and  mechanics  in  the  House. 


The  Two  Chambers.  345 

Perfect  freedom  of  debate  is  allowed.  The  Senators,  or 
members  of  the  Upper  Chamber,  and  the  Ministers,  have  the 
privilege  of  seats  and  of  speaking  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, which  they  often  avail  themselves  of  The  Upper 
House  has  duties  different  in  many  respects  from  our  Senate. 
It  is  a  sort  of  Standing  Committee,  digesting  and  arranging 
public  business  in  the  interval  of  Parliament.  Speakers  usu- 
ally, though  not  necessarily,  mount  the  tribune,  as  in  France, 
when  they  address  the  House.  The  speeches  I  heard  were 
all  short  and  pithy,  commonly  written  and  read.  The  vote 
was  often  taken,  always  by  show  of  hands.  A  great  deal  of 
business  (it  was  the  closing  week  of  the  session)  was  accom- 
plished quite  quietly.  The  Chamber  had  little  of  the  disorder 
of  our  House  ;  members  listened,  kept  their  seats,  and  attend- 
ed strictly  to  business.  There  was  a  comparatively  small 
attendance  of  spectators  and  a  small  accommodation  in  the 
galleries ;  and  it  is  at  least  doubtful  whether  our  American 
free  invitation  to  the  public  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  Sen- 
ate and  House  does  not  seriously  affect  their  character  as  de- 
liberative bodies,  and  disturb  the  sobriety  of  their  judgment 
and  the  simplicity  of  their  discussions,  besides  making  a  great 
obstruction  to  the  business  by  inviting  talk  and  encouraging 
popular  displays.  Something,  on  the  other  hand,  is  to  be  said 
in  favor  of  the  presence  of  the  people,  as  encouraging  their 
representatives  to  advance  and  maintain  their  sentiments, 
when  in  danger  of  being  repressed  by  bureaucratic  or  mere 
Congressional  feeling ;  and  then  openness  and  publicity  are 
always  favorable  to  liberty. 

There  is  enough  to  keep  one  busy  for  a  long  time  among 
the  sights  of  Berlin,  and  we  have  passed  rapidly  through 
them.  The  Royal  Library,  one  of  the  four  largest  in  the 
world,  is  beautifully  arranged,  and  contains  many  most  val- 
uable and  interesting  MSS.  and  a  rich  assortment  of  illumi- 

P  2 


346  The  Old  World  i?i  its  New  Face. 

nated  missals.  It  is  particularly  rich  in  every  thing  appertain- 
ing to  the  History  of  the  Reformation,  and  is  redolent  with 
the  memories  of  the  Reformers  themselves — copious  speci- 
mens of  whose  letters  and  MSS.  are  found  here.  Even  more 
living  are  the  traces  of  the  philosophers  and  savans  who  illus- 
trated the  time  of  Frederick  the  Great,  and  the  later  poets 
and  thinkers,  Goethe,  Schiller,  Herder,  Lessing,  Uhland, 
Fichte,  Hegel,  Schelling.  Nothing  was  more  startling  than 
to  come  upon  the  identical  hemisphere  of  metal  (about  eight- 
een inches  in  diameter)  with  which  Otto  Guericke  made  the 
experiments  which  led  him  to  the  discovery  of  the  air-pump. 
Here  are  the  ropes  and  tackle  to  which  he  attached  his  thirty 
horses  when  he  proved  that  their  power  was  not  adequate  to 
separate  these  metal  hemispheres,  when  the  air  between  them 
was  exhausted.  The  Museum  is  rich  in  a  vast  variety  of 
gems  and  coins  ;  of  mediaeval  antiquities  ;  of  sculptures  and 
vases  (1600);  of  bronzes  and  terra-cottas.  The  collection 
of  Egyptian  antiquities,  occupying  five  chambers,  is  probably 
the  best  in  Europe ;  since  Lepsius  added  the  immense  ac- 
quisitions his  vast  learning  and  acuteness  enabled  him  to 
make  in  Egypt  in  1845.  Rev.  Dr.  Thompson,  of  New  York, 
has  the  credit  here  of  having  been  a  very  faithful  and  success- 
ful student  of  Egyptology  when  in  Berlin  last  year,  and  add- 
ing his  recent  to  his  old  acquirements,  he  must  be  in  con- 
dition to  give  the  curious  in  such  matters  in  America  some 
fresh  light.  The  collection  of  pictures  here,  while  it  is  hard- 
ly marked  by  one  first-rate  picture  of  any  great  master,  has  a 
vast  and  admirably-arranged  series  of  good  pictures  from  all 
the  schools,  and  affords  an  unequaled  opportunity  for  pursu- 
ing the  study  of  art  history. 

The  royal  stables  are  interesting.  They  contain  at  least 
a  hundred  horses,  mostly  black  (black  and  white  being  the 
colors  of  Prussia),  and  carriages  enough  to  open  a  livery  sta- 


Ranch  the  Sculptor.  347 

ble.  Some  of  these,  handed  down  from  the  earliest  date  of 
the  monarchy,  are  rudely  magnificent,  and  illustrate  in  their 
proximity  to  recent  coaches  the  immense  progress  which  has 
attended  the  art  of  the  wheelwright  within  a  hundred  years. 
Nothing  pleased  me  so  much  in  the  whole  stable  as  the  ap- 
plication in  many  of  the  royal  carriages  of  tires  of  gutta-per- 
cha to  the  wheels.  About  an  inch  in  thickness,  these  tires 
are  found,  on  smoothly-paved  roads,  more  lasting  than  iron. 
They  save  all  jar,  and  furnish  a  most  luxurious  relief  to  pas- 
sengers of  delicate  and  overstrained  nerves.  The  rich  peo- 
ple in  Berlin  have  very  commonly  adopted  this  improvement, 
and  I  wish  our  streets  of  New  York  were  smooth  enough  to 
make  the  trial  of  it  there  possible.  Certainly  on  earthen 
roads,  pleasure-carriages  might  adopt  it  to  the  great  comfort 
of  invalids.  I  see  no  reason  why  ambulances  and  hospital 
carriages  should  not  be  fitted  with  these  beautiful  cushions 
for  the  wheels. 

Ranch,  who  died  a  few  years  ago,  was  to  Berlin  and  Prus- 
sia what  Schwanthaler  was  to  Munich  and  Bavaria.  His 
genius  and  skill  as  a  sculptor  have  laid  his  country  under 
great  obligations.  The  Ranch  Museum  contains  models  or 
copies  in  plaster  of  all  his  works,  and  presents  an  astonishing 
evidence  of  the  fertility,  industry  and  success  of  his  genius. 
His  favorite  theme  seems  to  have  been  "  Victory,"  of  which 
at  least  eight  different  statues  came  from  his  hand.  It  is 
very  interesting  to  study  in  this  collection  the  gradual  per- 
fecting of  his  plan  for  his  chief  work,  the  splendid  monument 
to  Frederick  the  Great.  It  grew  in  his  mind  very  slowly, 
and  attained  its  consummate  finish  only  after  eleven  years  of 
study.  It  is  now  called  the  finest  statuesque  monument  in 
Europe.  Ranch's  history,  character,  genius  and  works  are  all 
profoundly  interesting;  he  has  stamped  himself  indelibly  upon 
the  face  of  his  country  and  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 


348  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

The  churches  in  Berlin  are  not  worthy  of  its  general  archi- 
tecture. The  Dom  is  large,  and  an  important  feature  in  the 
street  view,  but  is  a  homely  pile,  both  outside  and  in.  We 
attended  service  there  on  Sunday  morning — sitting  opposite 
(in  the  diplomatic  pew)  to  the  royal  pew,  where  one  person 
was  sitting.  None  of  the  diplomatic  corps  were  at  church. 
The  church  was  fairly  filled,  as  it  usually  is,  but  chiefly,  it  is 
said,  by  the  attraction  of  its  famous  choir  of  men  and  boys, 
who  give  church  music  in  unequaled  beauty  and  power. 
They  sing  chiefly  without  organ  accompaniment,  and  only  the 
finest  and  most  appropriate  music.  There  seemed  a  hun- 
dred voices  in  the  choir.  A  screen  separated  them  from  all 
view  of  the  congregation.  The  officiating  minister,  in  gown 
and  bands,  came  in  and  knelt  on  an  altar,  on  which  was  a 
crucifix  and  lighted  candles,  and  with  his  back  to  the  congre- 
gation. He  then  turned,  and  read  the  prayers  and  passages 
from  the  Scripture,  from  a  book,  in  a  simple  way.  As  I  had 
to  preach  myself  at  11^  in  the  American  chapel,  I  could  not 
stay  for  the  sennon. 

One  religious  service  we  attended,  on  the  last  day  of  the 
ten  penitential  days  with  which  the  Jewish  year  begins,  in 
the  magnificent  synagogue  lately  finished  in  Berlin.  It  is  in 
Oriental  style,  holds  four  thousand  people,  and  cost  a  million 
of  dollars.  The  interior  is  gorgeous  and  dazzling,  with  light- 
ed domes  of  glass,  ornamental  pillars  and  cornices  and 
arches  of  fantastic  complication.  It  was  nearly  full  of  wor- 
shipers. At  least  a  dozen  officiating  priests  assisted  in  the 
service.  The  chief  function  was  performed  by  one  man, 
dressed  in  a  black  robe  and  with  a  cap  on  his  head,  who, 
with  his  face  toward  the  ark  containing  the  sacred  books, 
sung  in  a  magnificent  voice  the  prayers,  and  was  echoed  by 
a  charming  choir  of  boys  and  joined  very  often  by  the  whole 
congregation.     At  a  certain  point  in  the  service  the  sacred 


The  jfews.  349 

books,  in  their  rich  caskets  of  silver  and  surmounted  with 
bells,  were  carried  in  procession  up  and  down  the  aisles,  in 
the  arms  of  men  accoutred  in  white  shawls,  and  of  course 
weanng,  as  every  body  did,  the  hat.  There  was  nothing  very 
impressive  in  the  aspect  of  these  worshipers.  The  music 
was  fine,  and  the  attendance  remarkable  ;  but,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  there  was  neither  in  the  air  of  the  priests  nor  of 
the  people  any  rapt  attention  or  devout  expression.  The 
whole  thing  seemed  a  pretty,  heartless  ceremonial ;  the  at- 
mosphere was  not  worshipful.  There  are  twenty  thousand 
Jews  in  Berlin,  and  they  are  far  the  richest  portion  of  the 
community.  They  own  the  lots  "  Unter  den  Linden  "  and 
about  the  Thier-Garten.  They  are  the  millionaires,  capital- 
ists, bankers  and  great  merchants  of  the  city.  They  are  di- 
vided into  two  schools,  those  who  are  avowedly  reformed 
Jews  and  confess  themselves  no  longer  bound  by  the  Tal- 
mud, and  no  longer  expectants  of  a  Messiah  in  the  flesh ; 
and  the  old-fashioned  Jews,  who  are  supposed  to  have  no 
very  different  opinion,  but  who  still  hold  on  to  the  old  style 
of  profession.  The  synagogues  they  build  are  no  special 
evidences  of  their  zeal  or  faith,  as  they  are  built  by  joint- 
stock  companies,  who  manage  to  make  them  pay  an  annual 
income  by  letting  the  seats  at  high  rates.  They  are  still 
held  together  by  more  or  less  of  political  or  social  persecu- 
tion. But  marriages  between' Jews  and  Christians  are  be- 
coming common.  Jewish  women,  it  is  said,  like  Christian 
husbands,  and  Christian  husbands  like  Jewish  dowries  and 
Jewish  beauty  and  brightness.  There  is  evidently  the  same 
change  and  disintegration  going  on  in  Jewish  opinions  and 
usages,  commonly  deemed  so  stable  and  permanent,  as  in 
Christian  theology,  and  the  rapid  success  of  the  Jews  in 
wealth  and  in  moneyed  and  social  influence  is  pretty  certain 
to  be  the  ruin  of  their  ecclesiastical  life.     They  are  really 


35 o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

melting  into  modern  civilization,  which  they  greatly  modify 
by  their  aesthetic  tastes,  and  their  acute  minds  and  fervid 
tempers.  Disraeli  is  himself  a  sample  of  what  all  Jewry  is 
becoming,  and  there  was  never  less  reason  to  forebode  any 
growth  of  real  Judaism  than  now,  when  its  external  signs  are 
so  abundant.  It  is  only  in  Russia  and  Poland  that  the  old 
Judaism  of  the  middle  ages  survives. 

I  saw  an  old  man  in  military  uniform  in  the  streets  of 
Berlin,  moving  about  like  a  sort  of  grandfather  of  the  people. 
He  looked  faded  and  not  quite  clear  in  intellect,  but  seemed 
full  of  benevolence  and  geniality.  He  spoke  to  all  the  chil- 
dren, and  I  saw  one  waiter  rush  out  of  a  coffee-house  and 
shake  his  hand.  This  was  the  famous  Field-Marshal  Wran- 
gel,  so  well-known  in  Prussian  history.  He  is  still  the  titu- 
lar head  of  the  Prussian  army,  but  without  any  actual  com- 
mand. It  was  affecting  to  see  the  old  man's  place  in  the  af- 
fections of  the  people,  and  the  enjoyment  he  found  in  min- 
gling with  all  classes  of  society.  So  great  a  departure  from 
the  usual  strictness  of  German  etiquette  could  only  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  approach  of  second  childhood.  The  re- 
spect for  titles  in  Germany  is  very  much  founded  on  their 
real  value.  If  a  man  has  a  title,  there  is  some  actual  office 
and  privilege  to  which  it  corresponds.  Titles  are  by  no 
means  matters  of  course.  They  imply  labor  and  desert ;  and 
it  is  only  very  slowly  that  they  are  acquired.  But  they  entitle 
their  bearer  to  rights  and  to  a  precedence  which  are  very  real. 
Moreover,  there  is  a  slow  but  sure  advancement  in  the  mili- 
tary and  civil  service  which  makes  government  employment 
very  much  desired,  low  and  inadequate  as  its  pecuniary  re- 
wards are.  I  paid  a  visit  of  respect  to  Professor  Neumann, 
the  author  of  a  careful  history  of  the  United  States,  in  three 
volumes.  He-  was  an  old  man,  who  had  suffered  lately  a 
slight  shock  of  paralysis,  but  who  retained  full  possession  of 


Gerjnafi  History  of  America.  351 

his  mental  faculties,  and  a  most  enthusiastic  admiration  for 
the  principles  and  institutions  of  the  American  Republic. 
He  is  the  author  of  a  history  of  British  India.  A  German 
Republican  of  the  purest  water,  he  has  written  the  history  of 
the  United  States  from  the  most  radical  stand-point,  with  the 
profoundest  sense  of  the  evil  which  slavery  did  the  countiy, 
and  the  intensest  sympathy  with  the  moral  and  political  ef- 
forts by  which  it  was  destroyed.  He  proposes  to  publish  a 
cheap  edition  of  his  work,  which  it  would  be  a  great  stroke 
of  political  wisdom  to  disseminate  among  the  Germans  of 
America.  The  existing  edition  would  cost  $10  in  America. 
He  proposes,  if  he  can  find  encouragement  from  America,  to 
publish  an  edition  at  a  cost  of  about  $3.  I  wish  some  Ger- 
man book-seller  in  America  could  see  it  to  be  for  his  interest 
to  order  five  hundred  copies  as  an  experiment  on  the  taste  of 
the  American  Germans.  I  should  be  very  glad  to  act  as  in- 
termediary, and  to  procure  and  furnish  any  more  specific  in- 
formation, should  any  book-seller,  German  or  American,  think 
it  worth  while  to  look  farther  into  this  interesting  and  impor- 
tant matter.  Professor  Neumann  could  not  speak  without 
visible  emotion  and  even  tears  of  the  present  trying  aspect 
of  American  politics.  He  said  his  studies  had  made  the 
success  of  American  institutions  a  matter  of  deep  personal 
solicitude,  and  that  every  blow  given  to  his  confidence  in  the 
American  people  was  like  a  family  aifiiction.  His  tender- 
ness on  this  subject  was  most  touching,  and  filled  me  with 
love  and  reverence.  I  have  not  read  his  history,  but  from 
what  I  learn  of  it  from  competent  judges  I  anticipate  great 
profit  and  instruction  from  a  future  examination  of  it. 

We  made  a  visit  to  Potsdam,  which  is  eighteen  miles  from 
Berlin  and  corresponds  to  it,  as  Versailles  does  to  Paris, 
only  it  far  exceeds  it  in  interest.  The  modern  palaces  are 
very  charming,  specially  the  summer  palace  of  the  King,  and 


352  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

his  favorite  resort  when  he  desires  retirement.  No  palace 
could  possess  a  more  home-like  and  attractive  character. 
Not  too  large  nor  too  much  overlaid  with  splendor  for  com- 
fort, it  is  full  of  elegance  and  refinement,  a  sort  of  glorifica- 
tion of  a  Hudson  River  residence  of  a  New  York  merchant 
of  affluence  and  taste.  The  walls  were  covered  with  small 
pictures  by  the  best  modern  artists.  I  hoped  every  moment 
to  come  upon  an  American  picture,  but  did  not.  The  palace 
looked  in  all  parts  made  for  use,  and  to  be  really  in  use.  No 
part  of  it  was  so  modest  and  homely  as  the  King's  own  bed- 
room, quite  high  up  in  the  palace  and  commanding  a  lovely 
view  of  the  river  and  the  well-planted  grounds  sloping  toward 
it.  The  King's  bed  was  single,  without  posts,  and  made,  like 
the  other  furniture,  of  a  native  wood.  No  well-to-do  farmer 
could  sleep  on  a  plainer  couch.  Over  the  foot-board,  in  the 
little  recess  where  it  stood,  was  a  small  crucifix,  and  over  the 
head-board  a  water-color  drawing  styled  "The  Genius  of 
Thought,"  a  gift  from  the  Queen,  on  occasion  of  their  silver 
wedding.  A  copy  of  the  head  of  Ranch's  statue  of  Queen 
Louisa,  his  mother,  was  upon  one  table,  and  a  bust  of  the 
Queen  upon  another.  On  his  writing-table,  which  seemed  in 
constant  use,  was  a  small  picture  of  Old  Fritz,  and  all  the  im- 
plements upon  it  were  military  in  their  style,  and  cast  from 
bullets  or  balls  that  had  come  from  victorious  battle-fields, 
and  in  the  shape  of  cannon  or  stacked  arms.  The  old  pal- 
ace, built  by  Frederick  the  Great,  is  an  immense  pile,  with  an 
interior  in  very  poor  taste  and  having  a  tawdry  and  faded 
appearance.  It  is  kept  very  much  as  he  left  it.  You  are 
told  that  the  arrangement  of  the  pictures  (some  lying  against 
the  sides  of  the  rooms  without  frames)  continues  as  his  own 
hand  had  placed  them.  His  library,  small  and  very  French, 
is  as  he  left  it.  The  historical  chairs,  whose  satin  covers  his 
favorite  dogs  had  clawed  to  tatters,  are  to  be  seen. 


Totnb  of  Frederick.  353 

The  graves  of  his  canine  favorites  and  of  his  war-horse  are 
marked  with  marble  slabs  on  one  side  of  the  little  palace  of 
San  Souci.  Voltaire's  ugly  visage  grins  through  the  glass  of 
one  of  the  book-cases.  Frederick's  portraits  at  various  ages 
are  found  here,  always  carrying  the  same  expression  of  the 
philosopher  in  uniform,  the  soldier-savan.  His  spirit  haunts 
this  place,  and  it  is  a  mighty  ghost !  Carlyle  has  not  exag- 
gerated its  features.  Posterity  will  not  improbably  decide, 
when  this  great  soldier  and  king  has  exhausted  his  influence 
upon  the  world,  that  Napoleon  yields  to  Frederick  in  real 
greatness.  The  ashes  of  this  wonderful  man  lie  under  the 
pulpit  of  the  Garrison  Church,  in  a  plain  vault  and  in  a  still 
plainer  metallic  coffin.  Here  every  Sunday  two  thousand 
Prussian  soldiers  are  reminded  of  the  real  founder  of  their 
national  greatness,  and  drink  in  as  a  part  of  their  religion 
enthusiasm  for  his  genius  and  aspirations.  The  flags  taken 
from  France  and  Austria  hang  over  his  tomb  and  embellish 
the  walls  of  the  church,  adding  to  the  influence  that  is  per- 
petually diffused  from  this  spot,  to  keep  Prussia  a  military 
and  an  aspiring  country.  I  might  spend  a  whole  letter  upon 
Potsdam  alone,  which  is  full  of  curious  and  interesting  things, 
and  of  lovely  rides  and  walks.  But  I  will  only  mention  one 
other  object  of  special  interest,  and  that  is  a  collection  of 
exquisite  copies  of  all  Raphael's  works,  made  by  order  of 
King  William  HI.,  and  affording  the  best  opportunity  of  see- 
ing all  together  and  comparing  with  each  other  the  works  of 
this  miraculous  genius.  It  was  difficult  to  tear  away  from 
the  enchantment  of  this  spot.  The  copies  were  as  good  as 
the  originals  for  all  but  the  nicest  discrimination,  and  here  I 
saw  for  the  first  time,  in  color,  works  the  originals  of  which 
are  in  Spain,  Russia,  Portugal,  but  whose  fame  is  in  all  the 
world.     It  was  a  delicious  treat. 


XXIX. 

LIFE     IN     PRUSSIA. 

Berlin,  October  28,  1867. 

PRUSSIA  is  a  military  country  in  even  a  more  marked 
sense  than  France.  It  owes  its  existence,  its  growth,  its 
safety,  its  self-respect  to  arms.  Its  people  are  educated  by 
the  musket ;  they  are  all  under  military  drill.  The  uniform 
is  almost  the  national  costume.  Berlin  is  a  city  of  barracks 
and  arsenals  and  guard-houses,  and  soldiers  are  the  charac- 
teristic feature  of  its  street  population.  A  clean,  fresh, 
straight,  comely-looking  set  of  fellows  they  are,  with  self- 
respect  and  order  in  every  button  and  every  line  of  their  feat- 
ures and  forms.  The  education  to  cleanliness,  decent  man- 
ners, good  carriage  and  respectful  behavior  which  this  great 
camp,  called  Prussia,  secures,  is  something  most  instructive 
to  see.  The  soldiers  do  not  look  brutal,  coarse,  or  sensual. 
There  is  some  secret  about  their  training  which  neither  the 
French  nor  the  English  have  caught.  It  must  be  a  good 
deal  in  the  German  blood — which  is  not  hot,  but  as  if  made 
of  beer,  not  beef— -a  little  cool  and  sluggish.  The  German 
military  spirit  is  informed  and  corrected  by  the  universal  edu- 
cation of  the  people.  German  soldiers  and  sailors  are  differ- 
ent from  American  or  English  or  French.  They  are  neither 
drunkards,  nor  quarrelsome,  nor  reckless.  The  union  of  a 
careful  elementary  education  with  a  universal  participation 
in  the  soldier's  calling,  takes  away  the  exceptional  character 
and  licensed  rudeness  which  belong  to  soldiers  when  they 


Too  Much   Governfnent.  355 

are  only  a  special  class  of  the  population.  But,  doubtless, 
this  soldier-life,  so  favorable  to  order  and  decorum,  and  even 
so  chastening  to  youthful  passions,  has  another  and  a  most 
painful  side  to  it.  It  drills  the  Prussian  youth  to  mechanical 
habits,  represses  personal  enterprise,  delays  the  self-relying 
qualities  in  their  character,  habituates  them  to  being  taken 
care  of,  encourages  them  to  lives  of  busy  idleness,  and  sacri- 
fices each  to  all,  the  people  to  the  country.  Accordingly, 
there  is  a  general  spirit  of  listlessness,  occupation  with  im- 
mediate pleasures,  or  magnifying  of  eating  and  drinking  as 
very  serious  occupations,  a  contentment  with  humble  means, 
a  patient  waiting  for  slow  advancement,  which  it  is  discour- 
aging to  see  in  so  well-educated,  so  respectable  and  so  or- 
derly a  people.  Quick  as  Prussia  is  in  arms — because  her 
military  life  is  all  reduced  to  machiner}^,  and  the  machinery 
is  in  the  finest  order  and  can  be  set  in  motion  in  an  hour — 
there  is  no  other  quickness  about  her.  She  is  a  slow  coun- 
try. Every  practical  interest  lags.  Her  workmen  are  slow, 
and.  do  not  effect  in  a  day  three-fourths  of  the  work  of  an 
English  or  American  workman.  It  drives  one  nearly  crazy 
to  see  how  many  arms  there  are  on  the  levers  by  which  the 
smallest  object  is  reached.  In  the  restaurants  one  man  re- 
ceives the  order,  another  carries  it,  a  third  transfers  it,  a  fourth 
executes  it,  a  fifth  receives  the  thing  executed,  and  a  sixth 
makes  it  over  to  the  original  orderer.  It  takes  twenty  min- 
utes to  get  a  chop  which  would  be  before  you  in  five  minutes 
in  an  American  eating-house.  There  is  a  system  of  military 
subordination  running  through  the  whole  social  and  econom- 
ical life,  and  this  narrows  and  limits  every  body's  sphere, 
and  contracts  and  paralyzes  energy  and  hope. 

The  people  are  driven  to  pleasures  and  trifles,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  engaging  occupations.  They  pass  an  immense 
amount  of  their  time  in  beer-shops  and  gardens,  listening  to 


356  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

dance-music.  They  are  not  rude  and  drunken — far  from  it — 
but  they  are  unaccustomed  to  the  concerns  and  unfamiHar  with 
the  earnest  purposes  that  characterize  our  life.  And  with  all 
the  freedom  of  which  they  boast,  they  are  practically  drilled 
out  of  the  best  part  of  freedom  by  a  parental  government  that 
takes  care  of  them  like  so  many  ungrown  boys  and  girls. 
The  very  students  in  the  University  are  numbered  like  state's 
prisoners,  and  carry  round  a  card  in  their  pockets  which  they 
must  show  on  demand.  The  police,  or  some  government 
functionary,  are  forever  meddling  with  the  freedom  of  the  peo- 
ple, who  are  so  used  to  being  watched  and  ordered  and  in- 
structed that  they  do  not  even  know  that  they  are  imprison- 
ed in  government  rules  and  bureaucratic  regulations.  If  you 
would  go  to  the  opera,  you  must  make  a  written  application 
for  a  ticket  the  day  before,  and  you  will  receive  (or  perhaps 
not)  a  written  notice  whether  you  may  be  permitted  to  pur- 
chase a  place !  A  servant  girl  can  not  leave  her  place  with- 
out notifying  the  police,  nor  go  to  one  without  her  paper  of 
confirmation  and  two  or  three  other  certificates.  Every 
Prussian  must  carry  a  passport  in  moving  from  town  to  town, 
which  any  sentinel  may  challenge  him  to  produce.  The  fact 
is,  the  people  are  tied  with  a  very  short  string  to  every  finger 
and  toe,  and  can  not  move  out  of  their  places,  and  the  mis- 
fortune is  that  they  do  not  seem  to  know  it.  They  talk  very 
loudly  and  proudly  of  English  and  American  license  and  dis- 
order, and  civic  immoralities  and  drunkenness  and  crime, 
and  admire  very  much  their  freedom  from  these  misfortunes  ; 
but  they  forget  that  alongside  these  tares  the  strongest  wheat 
is  growing,  and  that  their  political  soil  is  much  like  their 
sandy  territory,  unfavorable  to  any  large  growths  of  either 
weeds  or  wheat. 

In  regard  to  the  political  situation  in  Prussia,  it  may  be 
said  that  the  only  two  parties  are  those  of  Bismarck,  aiming 


Political  Situation.  357 

at  the  unity  of  all  Germany  mainly  by  military  force,  and  the 
party  which  wishes  to  bring  about  the  same  result  by  volun- 
tary concession  on  the  part  of  the  outlying  southern  states. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  force  party  is  carrying  the  day. 
Already  force  has  brought  three-quarters  of  all  Germany  into 
union,  and  the  other  quarter  is  very  sure  to  fall  in.     There  is 
no  outlet  for  the  superfluous  products  of  Southern  Germany 
except  through  Northern  German  ports.     The  Danube  brings 
them  into  conflict  with  markets  already  preoccupied.     They 
must,  therefore,  join  the  Zoll-verein.     But  North  Germany 
(that  is,  Prussia)  will  not  allow  them  this  privilege  (which 
they  would  at  once  seize  upon)  unless  they  pay  for  it  with 
confessing  allegiance.     This  they  will  for  a  short  time  strug- 
gle against,  but  they  must  finally  submit.     What  sacrifices 
of  personal  liberty  this  compulsory  union  may  occasion,  it  is 
alarming   to  contemplate.      A  certain  portion  only  of  the 
Prussian  Parliament,  not  sixty  perhaps  in  all,  see  clearly  the 
danger,  but  they  are  helpless  to  ward  it  off     The  union  of 
Southern  Germany  with  Northern  has  two  sides  to  it.     It 
will  add  an  immense  Roman  Catholic  population  to  a  now 
Protestant  countrj^  and  complicate  internal  politics  with  new 
ecclesiastical  questions ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  smaller 
states  of  Germany  wrung  from  their  princes,  so  far  back  as 
18 1 6,  constitutions  which  they  compelled  them  to  respect,  and 
they  have  enjoyed  a  far  greater  degree  of  liberty  under  them 
than  Prussians  now  possess  who  only  since  1848  have  had  a 
constitution,  and  who  have  always  had  a  powerful  government 
to  prevent  its  too  favorable  reading.     This  freedom  in  the 
south  is  a  great  offset  to  the  Roman  Catholicism  there,  and 
will  help  to  reconcile  the  liberal  and  Protestant  party  in  Ger- 
many to  the  fusion.     When  Germany  is  a  unit,  there  will  no 
doubt  be  a  glorious  necessity  for  separating  Church  and  State, 
as  the  only  means  of  solving  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 


358  TJie  Old  World  in  its  Netv  Face. 

question.  The  overwhelming  predominancy  of  Prussia  will 
be  abated  by  the  union,  and  thus  the  general  liberties  of  the 
German  race  greatly  advanced.  Many  conservatives  per- 
ceive this  side  of  the  consolidation,  and  are  opposed  to  it  as 
involving  a  peril  for  Prussian  influence.  "  Union  first  and 
liberty  afterward  "  has  been  here,  as  with  us,  the  cry  of  pa- 
triots. But  many  who  might  like  the  union,  do  not  like  the 
liberty,  and  they  prefer  to  keep  things  as  they  now  are,  with 
Prussian  influence  in  Germany  at  the  very  highest  point. 
But  this  can  not  be  done.  Bismarck  has  the  good  sense  to 
see  that  Prussia  must  finally  yield  to  German  nationality. 
He  is,  therefore,  in  opposition  to  his  old  conservative  associ- 
ates, accepting  the  destiny  of  Prussia,  and  aiding  it  in  a  cer- 
tain way  to  sacrifice  itself  to  a  larger  interest.  This  is  noble. 
Bismarck  has  for  his  invaluable  assistants  in  shaping  Prus- 
sia and  Germany  General  Moltke,  the  first  soldier  in  Europe, 
and  General  Wrode,  an  admirable  tactician  and  organizer. 
Having  himself  been  embassador  at  every  important  court 
in  Europe — Paris,  London,  St.  Petersburg,  Vienna — he  thor- 
oughly knows  diplomatic  characters  and  political  tendencies, 
and  can  make  his  combinations  with  unfailing  skill.  He  was 
a  student  of  Louis  Napoleon  until  he  excelled  his  master  in 
astuteness,  courage  and  success.  He  is  a  sort  of  combina- 
tion of  Mr.  Seward  and  General  Grant ;  with  the  dialectic  and 
diplomatic  acuteness  and  use  of  skillful  means  and  patient 
methods,  without  much  care  for  what  people  say,  which  has 
distinguished  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  with  the  energy 
and  pertinacity  of  character,  the  prudence  and  directness 
which  have  illustrated  the  career  of  the  Lieutenant-General. 
Bismarck  was  once  a  Prussian  captain,  but  does  not  claim 
a  soldier's  reputation.  The  King  had  made  him  a  general, 
partly  because  he  likes  to  see  his  Minister  in  military  uniform 
and  partly  as  a  compliment.     It  is  said  that  Bismarck  finds 


Apartments.  359 

his  uniform  a  convenient  excuse  for  wearing  arms,  which, 
since  the  attack  on  his  life,  became  prudent.  There  is  no 
habit  in  Germany  of  civiHans  going  armed  ;  not  one  revolver 
is  carried  here  for  a  hundred  in  America.  Duelling,  how- 
ever, is  still  common. 

One  of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  repressive 
tendencies  of  Prussian  policy  is  seen  in  the  forbiddance  to 
retail  newspapers  or  pamphlets  and  books  in  the  streets  of 
Berlin.  To  have  a  newspaper,  you  must  subscribe  for  it  for 
the  year.  As  a  consequence,  the  newspapers  are  neither 
numerous,  enterprising,  nor  universally  read.  There  seems 
a  want  of  acquaintance  with  current  events  —  a  difficulty 
about  obtaining  local  information,  which  is  unfavorable  to  lib- 
erty and  practical  intelligence. 

There  is  a  certain  awkwardness  in  small  affairs,  a  want 
of  tact,  or  of  a  sense  of  fitness — of  practical  ingenuity  and 
address  here  in  Northern  Germany  which  is  unaccountable. 
The  public  buildings  here,  at  the  centre  of  physical  science, 
are  wastefuUy  and  stupidly  arranged  as  to  entrance  and  exit, 
and  terribly  unventilated.  All  windows  and  doors  are  awk- 
wardly handled.  There  is  no  grace  and  facility  in  mechanic- 
al matters. 

In  respect  of  the  custom  of  living  in  stories,  or  apartments 
— some  poor  people  in  the  cellar,  a  graf  on  the  first  floor,  a 
hochrath  on  the  second,  a  shop-keeper  on  the  third,  and  a 
shoe-maker  on  the  fourth — there  is  much  to  be  said  on  both 
sides.  It  abolishes  special  districts,  in  which  rich  or  poor 
live.  It  brings  the  two  ends  of  society  together ;  it  makes 
the  children  of  the  various  orders  and  classes  acquainted 
with  each  other,  and  secures  a  certain  democratic  sympathy. 
It  is  favorable  to  external  morality  and  order.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  destroys  the  privacy  and  free  development  of  class- 
life,  which  we  see  in  England  and  America.     It  makes  home 


360  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

a  less  sacred  word,  and  depresses  those  marked  qualities 
which  grow  up  in  a  less  watched  and  more  castellated  do- 
mesticity. 

In  regard  to  the  general  morals  of  Berlin  (a  representa- 
tive city),  it  is  unquestionably  a  place  of  extraordinary  order 
and  decency — a  place  where  tradesmen  and  mechanics  keep 
their  word,  where  crime  is  unfrequent,  and  where  drunken- 
ness or  furious  orgies  such  as  we  have  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica are  rare.  At  one  season  of  the  year  they  go  into  the 
country  and  drink  buck-beer  for  a  few  days  (a  very  potent 
liquor),  and  indulge  in  a  kind  of  saturnalia.  There  is  an  im- 
mense festivity  always  going  on  in  beer-gardens — where  the 
people  flock,  especially  on  Sundays  and  festivals.  Wine  and 
beer  and  schnapps  have  an  immense  consumption,  but  either 
because  the  temperament  of  the  people  is  more  lymphatic, 
or  because  they  have  learned  by  experience  to  regulate  their 
appetites,  or  because  there  is  more  domestic  companionship 
in  their  pleasures,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  the  same  tend- 
ency to  perilous  excess.  From  a  careful  inquiry  at  the  Mu- 
nicipal Bureau  of  Statistics,  and  from  the  National  Bureau 
(over  which  the  celebrated  Dr.  Engel  presides),  I  have  ob- 
tained the  data  for  some  interesting  comparisons  touching 
the  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants,  and  of  wine  and  beer.  By 
the  concession  of  all,  intemperance  has  abated  in  Germany. 
Five-and-twenty  years  ago,  gin-palaces  and  brandy-saloons 
were  as  prominent  and  active  in  Berlin  as  in  London  or  New 
York.  They  have  been  supplanted  by  beer-shops,  which 
have  steadily  increased  in  number  and  in  respectability,  while 
brandy-saloons  have  been  driven  out  of  sight,  into  cellars  or 
back  streets.  It  is  not  considered  decent  to  visit  places 
where  only  brandy  or  strong  drinks  are  sold.  They  may  be 
had  in  the  beer-gardens,  but  they  are  not  much  used  there. 
There  is,  however,  still  an  immense  amount  of  potato  and 


The  University.  361 

corn  whisky  made  in  Germany  and  consumed  at  home.  One 
of  the  tables  reports  the  average  consumption  at  twelve  quarts 
per  head.  But  it  seems  to  be  used  by  the  poorer  classes  as 
an  article  of  alimentation,  taken  with  their  food,  and  not,  as 
with  us,  a  mere  indulgence  at  irregular  hours  and  in  repeated 
doses.  Some  people  try  to  show  that  the  use  of  beer  has 
greatly  diminished  the  use  of  whisky  in  Germany.  I  find 
both  whisky  and  beer,  by  the  tables,  steadily  increasing  in 
consumption  ;  but  they  are  neither  of  them  used  commonly 
for  purposes  of  intoxication,  although  beer  certainly  is  used 
to  a  stupefying  degree.  On  the  whole,  it  does  not  seem  safe 
to  argue  from  Germany  to  America  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
stimulants.  The  temperament  and  customs  and  circum- 
stances of  the  people  are  so  different  as  to  make  any  com- 
parison fallacious.  But  I  wish  we  could  manage  to  fight  in- 
temperance in  America  with  some  other  weapons  than  direct 
prohibition.  It  is  not  the  radical  cure,  and  will  necessarily 
have  dangerous  reactions. 

The  ordinary  beer  in  use  here  has  two  per  cent,  of  alcohol 
in  it.  Lager  beer  has  three  per  cent. ;  light  wine,  seven  ; 
port,  eleven ;  and  brandy,  perhaps  twenty-five.  Enough  beer 
is  into.xicating,  and  often  the  only  difference  is  slow  or  quick 
intoxication,  as  one  drinks  alcohol  in  the  shape  of  beer  in 
small  but  very  nvnnerous  doses.  This  view  might  simplify 
some  discussions  if  fully  developed. 

The  University  in  Berlin  was  founded  m  1809,  and  has 
grown  to  be  the  largest  and  most  important  in  Europe.  It 
has  countless  Professors,  and  it  is  said  had,  at  the  tw'o  se- 
mesters or  terms  of  last  year,  three  thousand  five  hundred 
students.  The  distinguished  men  in  the  theological  faculty, 
which  comes  first — I  mean  the  men  known  in  America  and 
Europe  —  are  Twesten,  Hengstenberg,  Nitzsch  and  Dorner. 
Twesten  and  Nitzsch  are  very  old  men.     Twesten's  first  vol- 

Q 


362  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ume  is  still  a  classical  authority  in  Biblical  criticism.  His 
second,  published  twenty  years  afterward,  is  inferior,  it  is 
said,  in  freedom  and  courage.  The  reaction  since  1848  has 
influenced  German  theology  exceedingly.  Hengstenberg  is 
one  of  the  old  Lutherans,  and  is  the  head  and  front  of  the 
State  Church.  He  is  a  severe  polemic,  a  reactionaire,  and  a 
stiff  formalist  in  dogmas  and  cultus.  He  heads  a  movement 
not  unlike  Dr.  Pusey's,  and  is  trying  to  bring  back  a  semi- 
Catholic  influence.  In  the  appointment  to  Church  places  he 
has  great  influence,  but  his  views  and  spirit  do  not  make 
much  headway  in  Berlin,  although  they  are  more  followed  in 
the  strictly  Lutheran  provinces  of  the  kingdom.  I  heard 
him  lecture.  He  is  a  round,  good-looking  man,  with  less 
scholastic  air  than  most  Professors  in  Germany.  He  speaks 
with  emphasis  and  warm  personal  interest,  rising  often  half- 
way in  his  chair  and  sometimes  leaning  over  on  one  side  as 
if  he  would  get  nearer  his  pupils.  His  tone  is  a  little  quer- 
ulous and  dictatory.  I  was  glad  to  see  he  did  not  despise 
illustrations  drawn  from  general  literature.  He  put  Strauss, 
Renan  and  Schenkel  in  one  damnatory  sentence.  His  whole 
influence  is  backward.  But  he  seems  an  honest  and  good 
man,  and  an  able  one.  His  learning  none  dispute,  and  his 
personal  character  is  high. 

Dorner  is  just  now  the  chief  ornament  of  the  theological 
faculty,  and  the  best  representative  of  the  modern  Orthodoxy 
of  Germany.  Those  who  are  competent  to  judge  say  that  he 
is  a  man  of  very  comprehensive  intellect,  with  a  natural  apt- 
itude for  philosophy,  and  especially  for  the  history  of  opin- 
ions ;  acute  in  his  discriminations,  and  with  admirable  power 
of  statement ;  rising  easily  from  particulars  to  generals  ;  pos- 
sessing a  moral  genius  and  a  constitutional  devoutness.  I 
passed  an  hour  with  him  in  very  frank  conversation,  and  was 
highly  pleased  with  his  general  views  and  his  enlarged  sym- 


Dr.  Dorner.  363 

pathies.  He  is  greatly  interested  in  American  developments, 
and  has  a  high  opinion  of  Professor  H.  B.  Smith  and  of  Pro- 
fessor Shedd.  Of  course  he  is  thoroughly  Orthodox,  but  I 
should  judge  more  of  Smith's  type  than  Shedd's.  I  heard  him 
lecture  on  the  relations  of  the  historical  and  the  universal  ele- 
ments in  Christianity.  He  is  about  sixty-five,  well-preserved, 
of  a  very  well-shaped  head  and  serious,  thoughtful  face,  rath- 
er small  in  stature,  but  in  full  vigor.  He  speaks  slowly  and 
with  beautiful  distinctness,  in  spit?  of  rather  poor  teeth — a 
very  common  defect  in  Germany,  where  American  dentists 
are  trying  to  introduce  a  reform.  Dorner  came  in  after  his 
class  had  assembled,  sat  down  and  commenced  reading  his 
lecture,  read  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  and  got  up  and  went 
out  before  the  class  left  their  seats.  The  lack  of  any  person- 
al relation  between  the  professors  and  the  students  is  very 
marked  here,  and  in  all  the  foreign  universitie's  I  have  visit- 
ed. Mr.  Bancroft  has  a  very  high  opinion  of  Dorner's  mind 
and  learning.  He  is  a  very  admirable  embodiment  of  the 
moderate  views  which  are  now  popular  in  Germany,  where 
sharp  dogmatic  statements  are  dangerous  and  offensive,  and 
where  theologians  are  trying  to  fasten  attention  upon  the 
practical  side  of  Christianity  and  upon  the  devout  life,  to  re- 
lieve the  strain  of  merely  intellectual  criticism.  The  age  of 
sharp  and  positive  or  merely  scientific  theology  has  departed 
for  the  present.  Indeed,  every  thing  in  Germany  is  now 
done  to  postpone  a  struggle  which  far-seeing  men  perceive 
must  come  finally,  and  which  must  be  fatal  to  so-called  Or- 
thodox theology.  Ap res  nous  le  deluge/  Since  1848  theolo- 
gy has  dropped  behind  the  sciences,  and  the  practical  experi- 
ence of  political  and  social  freedom.  There  is  an  obvious 
and  undisputed  rupture  between  the  intellectual  and  the  ec- 
clesiastical life  of  Germany,  not  to  add  of  Europe.  Science 
and  philosophy  go  their  own  way,  believing  in  truth  and  ex- 


364  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

pecting  its  ever  fresh  developments,  and  saying  as  little  as 
possible  about  religion.  Theology  takes  its  separate  path, 
accepts  the  merciful  silence  of  science  and  philosophy,  claims 
that  religion  has  a  separate  basis,  and  has  no  reason  for  ex- 
pecting the  support  or  accordance  of  physical  or  scientific 
facts,  and  imagines  that  it  is  thus  honoring  the  Gospel  and 
saving  the  faith  of  three  hundred  years  ago.  Meanwhile, 
the  churches  are  few  and  empty,  or  attended  mainly  by  wom- 
en and  the  unthinking  classes.  All  this  would  be  impossi- 
ble were  the  Church  in  Germany  or  France  separated  from 
the  State.  But  a  clergy  supported  by  State  endowments,  aft- 
er being  selected  by  State  authority,  neither  represents  pub- 
lic opinion  nor  meets  public  wants.  It  is  moored  by  the  in- 
terest of  its  priesthood  to  a  confession  or  creed  which  is  in- 
terwoven with  political  considerations  and  a  policy  of  dynas- 
ties. Berlin,  for  instance,  has  six  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, of  whom  at  least  five  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  are 
nominal  Protestants.  It  does  not  number  over  fifty  places 
of  Protestant  worship,  including  every  chapel  in  a  hospital  or 
barracks.  The  average  Sunday  attendance  on  Protestant 
worship  is  estimated  at  less  than  twenty  thousand,  of  whom 
two-thirds  would  doubtless  prove  to  be  women  and  children. 
But  Berlin  is  a  moral,  intelligent  and  orderly  community, 
of  conservative  tastes  and  habits.  Its  people  are  not  irrev- 
erent in  tone  and  speech,  among  the  better  classes,  and,  so 
far  as  I  can  see,  are  not  unbelievers  in  the  essential  truths 
of  Christianity.  There  was  a  time  when  the  philosophy  of 
Hegel  and  Schelling  led  many  savans  to  Pantheism,  and  the 
science  of  Vogt  and  Virchou  encouraged  many  others  to 
adopt  atheistic  opinions.  But  the  decline  of  metaphysical 
speculations  and  transcendental  mysticism,  under  the  bril- 
liant meridian  of  physical  science,  has  favored  a  return  from 
Pantheistic  wanderings,  while  the  more  advanced  Scientists 


The  Church.  365 

seem  to  be  growing  so  far  religious,  as  the  result  of  their  own 
studies  into  matter,  as  to  have  discovered  that  God  is  not 
to  be  ciphered  or  crucibled  out  of  the  Universe.  Science 
here  seems  to  be  more  theistic  than  it  is  in  England,  and  the 
German  mind,  which  is  essentially  religious,  seems  in  a  fair 
way,  the  moment  Church  and  State  are  separated,  to  rally 
round  the  science  of  the  true  savans,  and  purify  superstition 
by  seeing  and  acknowledging  that  there  is  really  nothing  in- 
consistent between  what  true  science  teaches  and  what  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  teaches.  I  think  that  science  has  even  got 
far  enough  here  to  see  that  man's  creation  is  a  miracle,  and 
life  itself  an  interposition  of  the  divine  will  and  power,  and  that 
there  is  nothing  impossible  in  the  New  Testament  miracles. 
But  all  this  preparation  produces  as  yet  little  or  no  effect 
upon  the  church  life  or  religious  institutions  of  the  people — 
nor  will  it  be  free  to  effect  any  change  for  the  better  while 
Church  and  State  are  bound  together.  This  union  prevents 
any  true  choice  of  their  own  ministers  by  the  people,  while  it 
hinders  any  development  of  religious  methods  adapted  to 
present  circumstances.  Nothing  of  the  interest,  the  free  sup- 
port, the  private  responsibility  which  individual  laymen  feel 
in  America  for  religious  institutions,  exists  here.  The  Church 
is  a  part  of  the  State,  and  has  all  the  faults  which  belong  to 
the  State  and  all  the  dislike  which  often  follows  the  State. 

The  Prussian  United  Church,  as  it  is  called,  is  a  composite 
of  Lutherans  and  Reformed,  or  of  the  two  schools  of  the  Ref- 
orm'ation — Luther's  on  the  one  hand,  and  Calvin's  and  Zwin- 
gle's  on  the  other.  It  has  adopted  the  views  of  the  latter  on 
the  question  of  the  real  presence  in  the  bread  and  wine, 
which  it  denies,  and  the  views  of  the  Lutheran  branch  on  the 
subject  of  a  more  external  ritual  service,  the  allowance  of 
pictures,  the  crucifix,  and  candles,  which  are  usually  seen 
burning  in  its  churches.     It  preserves  in  its  confessions  es- 


366  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

sentially  the  theology  of  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  it 
never  wants  conservative  leaders,  like  Hengstenberg,  who 
favor  the  most  hard  and  literal  construction  of  these  articles. 
The  Reformed  Churches,  left  to  themselves,  would  doubtless 
advance  in  the  right  direction,  and  soon  occupy  the  position 
of  at  least  our  Orthodox  Congregational  liberals.  But  the 
patronage  of  the  government  favors  so  completely  the  old 
Lutheran  party  that  "  the  Reformed  "  are  obliged  to  practice 
great  circumspection  to  keep  the  places  they  have.  There 
are  seven  or  eight  liberal  ministers  in  Berlin,  who  would  be 
Unitarian  ministers  if  they  lived  in  the  United  States.  But 
they  would  disown  the  name,  and  profess  themselves  more 
or  less  afraid  of  the  thing  in  their  present  position,  so  un- 
popular with  the  government,  and  the  Church  council  which 
directs  all,  are  their  tendencies.  I  have  seen  and  talked 
with  several  of  them,  and  found  myself  in  full  and  hearty 
sympathy  with  them.  They  are  popular,  too,  with  the  peo- 
ple, and  their  churches  are  as  well  attended  as  any.  Two 
of  them,  I  know,  confirm  as  many  as  or  more  than  any  Or- 
thodox preachers.  They  say  they  have  the  youth  of  Berlin 
much  under  their  influence  and  in  their  train.  But  it  is  plain, 
and  they  confess,  that  the  whole  life  of  the  National  Church, 
of  which  they  are  parts,  is  sickly  and  discouraging,  and  that 
all  earnest  men  are  looking  for  some  great  change — some 
radical  revolution  in  the  whole  ecclesiastical  life  of  Germany. 
Dorner  is  trying  hard  to  make  the  best  of  existing  circum- 
stances, and  to  hold  the  people  to  a  moderate  Orthodoxy. 
He  favors  the  continued  union  of  the  two  parts  of  the  National 
Church,  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed.  Hengstenberg  would 
like  to  crowd  the  Reformed  out  of  the  National  Church,  and 
to  restore  a  more  thorough  Lutheranism,  with  some  modifi- 
cation of  Luther's  great  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith, 
which  he  weakens  with  limitations  and  additions. 


Church-Going.  367 

But,  notwithstanding,  I  can  not  but  feel  that  the  great  com- 
mon life  of  the  German  people  and  the  Prussian  people  runs 
in  neither  of  these  channels,  and  has  left  the  Church  high  and 
dry.  The  people  have  unhappily  become  accustomed  to  liv- 
ing without  religious  observances  and  without  church-going. 
They  have  discovered,  too,  that  morality  may  exist  and  does 
exist  independently  of  churches  and  Sunday  instructions. 
They  have  invented  a  kind  of  piety  of  their  own,  and  are  not 
without  many  religious  beliefs,  hopes  and  fears.  But  there 
is,  in  spite  of  all,  that  decline  in  earnestness,  purity,  the  sense 
of  responsibility  and  the  service  of  humanity,  which  must  fol- 
low the  absence  of  public  worship  and  religious  co-operation. 
I  feel  among  the  people  here,  with  all  their  geniality  and 
kindness  of  manners  and  decorum,  a  sad  want  of  the  moral 
enthusiasm,  aspiration  and  tenderness  which  accompany  the 
religious  life  of  the  same  classes  at  home.  And  I  believe 
that  a  much  braver,  stronger  and  more  earnest  grasping  with 
theological  objections,  and  a  much  more  radical  change  in 
the  Christian  confession  of  the  Germans  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  bring  out  and  reconstitute  in  Church  communions  the 
great  masses  of  the  people.  This  change  will  come,  and  the 
political  movements  in  Germany  will  hasten  it.  It  can  not 
come  too  soon. 

Talking  with  one  of  the  best  and  purest  and  most  distin- 
guished men  of  science  in  Berlin  to-day  about  church-going, 
he  reminded  me  that  they  had  one  excellent  substitute  for  it 
— and  that  was  the  habit  of  attending  funerals,  where  a  re- 
ligious address  was  always  given.  He  said  he  got  about 
a  dozen  sermons  a  year  in  this  way,  and  that,  given  under 
affecting  circumstances,  they  had  more  influence  than  ser- 
mons in  church,  and  were  better  in  character.  He  complain- 
ed that  the  preaching  at  church  was  usually  cold  and  formal, 
and  that  the  churches  were  bad  places  either  to  get  fixed  sit- 


368  The  Old  World  ifi  its  Nnv  Face. 

tings  in  or  to  hear  in.  I  found  he  wanted  preaching  address- 
ed to  the  heart  only,  and  that  he  was  content  to  hear  very 
little  of  it,  such  as  it  was.  Another  member  of  the  Upper 
House  of  Parliament,  after  a  conversation  in  which  his  own 
liberal  views  were  very  apparent,  told  me  that  he  ordered  the 
religious  teacher  of  his  children  to  teach  them  only  the  old 
Lutheran  catechism,  for  he  had  noticed  that  women  espe- 
cially went  to  the  bad  if  they  became  free-thinkers.  He  add- 
ed, men  must !  Now,  what  is  to  be  inferred  from  conversa- 
tions like  these,  with  strong,  right-minded  men,  who,  unsus- 
picious of  the  effect  of  what  they  are  confessing,  acknowledge 
the  utter  want  of  seriousness  in  their  own  dealings  with  re- 
ligion ?  But  I  must  tear  away  before  half  completing  what  I 
should  like  to  say  on  this  absorbing  theme. 

In  the  law  faculty  of  the  University,  the  chief  names  among 
the  Professors  are  Berner,  Michelet  (one  of  the  few  remain- 
ing disciples  of  Hegel),  Bruns,  and  Holzendorff.  Reichert 
is  very  distinguished  in  Anatomy;  Bois-Reymond,  in  Physi- 
ology ;  Virchou,  in  Pathology  and  Anatomy  ;  Professor  Jung- 
ken,  in  Surgery ;  Dr.  Rose,  as  a  demonstrator.  Dr.  Grafe 
is  the  great  authority  on  the  eye,  and  has  troops  of  patients 
consulting  him.  At  the  head  of  the  Metaphysical  Depart- 
ment stands  Trendelenburg,  who  lectures  on  the  History  of 
Philosophy  and  on  Psychology.  He  is  a  man  of  profound 
learning  and  great  personal  energy — with  the  head  of  a  philos- 
opher and  the  face  of  a  saint.  He  reminded  me  of  our  la- 
mented Dr.  Nichols,  who  would  have  been  a  philosopher  if 
he  had  not  been  a  preacher.  Professor  Dove  is  a  great  light 
here.  His  work  on  "  Storms  and  Winds  "  has  been  translated 
into  French  and  English.  He  acknowledged  the  great  im- 
portance of  our  American  Redfield's  writings,  and  deemed 
his  discoveries  strictly  independent  of  his  own,  and  entitled 
to  the  name  of  original  investigations.     He  said  Professor 


The  Drafna.  369 

Henry  had  preceded  him  a  little  in  some  important  electric- 
al discoveries.  He  was  a  thoroughly  genial  man  and  a  de- 
lightful dinner-companion,  as  he  had  been  much  in  England 
and  talked  English  very  well.  But  time  would  fail  me  to 
speak  of  Hofmann  the  chemist,  who  is  the  peer  and  is  here 
thought  the  superior  of  Liebig  (who  is  at  Munich) ;  of  Ranke, 
the  historian,  the  chief  light  in  his  department ;  of  Lepsius, 
the  Egyptologist ;  of  Mommsen,  the  Roman  Archaeologist, 
and  of  twenty  others  of  only  less  distinction. 

Berlin  is  the  most  attractive  place  of  study  I  have  visited. 
Here  one  feels  the  depths  of  his  own  ignorance,  and  sees  the 
means  of  filling  up  the  vacuum — but,  alas  !  life  is  too  short ! 

Of  the  attractions  of  a  lighter  sort,  much  might  be  said. 
The  best  opera  I  ever  heard  was  at  the  Royal  Opera  House, 
where  "William  Tell"  was  put  upon  the  stage  more  effective- 
ly, and  sung  better  and  with  a  nobler  impression  than  I  had 
supposed  possible.  AVachtel  is  far  the  best  tenor  it  was  ever 
my  good  fortune  to  hear.  Lucca  is  a  great  favorite  here,  but 
I  have  heard  much  more  electric  and  sympathetic  voices. 
The  acting  at  the  theatres  is  said  to  be  very  clever,  without 
strain  or  self-consciousness.  There  is  almost  every  thing  in 
Berlin,  except  scenery  and  sunshine  and  popular  liberty. 

I  find  here  an  old  friend,  Hon.  Theodore  S.  Fay,  so  long 
and  honorably  connected  with  our  diplomatic  service  here, 
and  for  a  tenn  our  Minister  to  Switzerland.  His  ardent  pa- 
triotism through  the  war  will  be  fresh  in  all  memcJries.  He 
has  just  finished  an  atlas  and  geography  which  has  been  the 
labor  of  nearly  twenty  years,  and  which  is  both  beautiful  and 
admirable.  It  ought  to  have  the  attention  of  all  teachers. 
Mr.  Putnam  is  the  American  publisher,  and  I  hope  no  want 
of  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  public  will  prevent  its  im- 
mediate introduction  into  all  private  schools.  It  makes 
geography  almost  a  new  science.     Dr.  Abbott,  M_r.  Fay's  son- 

Q2 


370  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

in-law,  is  not  only  the  most  distinguished  dentist  in  Berlin, 
but  universally  known  for  his  patriotism,  intelligence  and 
worth. 

I  have  experienced  great  aid  in  various  statistical  inquiries 
in  Berlin  from  Dr.  Engel,  Dr.  Schwarb,  and  specially  from 
Mr.  J.  J.  Stutz,  who  is  crammed  with  knowledge  on  the  sub- 
ject of  emigration,  who  has  been  both  in  North  and  South 
America,  and  has  the  most  enthusiastic  interest  in  our  coun- 
try. As  a  German  he  has  been  indefatigable  in  the  dissem- 
ination of  the  truth  in  relation  to  American  affairs,  and  his 
authority  is  generally  acknowledged  for  exactness  and  thor- 
ough competency  to  form  an  enlightened  opinion.  He  ought 
to  have  some  position  connected  with  the  emigration  of  Ger- 
mans to  America.  Let  the  proper  authorities  look  to  it  that 
so  worthy  a  man  is  in  his  right  place. 

The  American  chapel  is  just  ready  for  consecration.  I 
preached  last  Sunday  week  in  the  little  hall,  where  worship 
is  temporarily  conducted,  to  a  hundred  Americans,  and  last 
Sunday  heard  there  the  Rev.  Mr.  Briggs,  an  Orthodox  min- 
ister, with  much  satisfaction.  It  is  under  Methodist  control, 
but  is  liberally  conducted.  The  new  chapel  is  very  pretty 
and  convenient,  and  will  be  a  great  comfort  to  Americans 
resident  here,  and  to  young  American  students  specially. 
May  every  blessing  rest  on  this  enterprise  !  The  English 
Congregational  Bible  Society  has  an  admirable  representa- 
tive here  in  Dr.  Simon,  who  is  quietly  doing  a  great  work. 


XXX. 

WITTENBERG     AND     HALLE. 

^  October  29,  1S67. 

\1/'ITTENBERG,  "the  Protestant  Mecca,"  is  about  fifty 
miles  south  of  BerHn,  on  the  Elbe,  in  the  midst  of  a 
flat  country',  and,  although  a  walled  town  containing  eleven 
thousand  people,  is  so  quiet  and  with  so  few  suburbs  that 
you  must  pass  its  gates  and  get  fairly  into  it  before  you  can 
be  convinced  that  any  city  is  there.  Even  then  its  demure 
and  sleepy  air  gives  no  sign  of  the  stirring  life  that  emanated 
from  it  and  once  beat  with  fiery  vigor  within  it.  If  this  is 
the  cradle  of  Protestantism,  and  was  rocked  by  Luther's 
sturdy  foot,  it  has  certainly  no  present  marks  of  the  agitation 
which  that  noisy  child  made  in  his  infancy,  or  of  the  amount 
of  business  he  gave  his  devoted  nurse. 

But  how  that  a  town  containing  even  the  ashes  of  Luther 
can  look  and  be  so  dull  and  mouldy,  I  can  not  see.  Two 
chimney-sweeps,  snaking  along  in  their  skin-close  black 
leather  suits,  were  the  only  brisk  things  I  saw  in  town.  And 
yet  what  a  place  of  mementoes  and  memories  it  is  !  Here, 
in  this  homely  church,  a  part  of  the  Elector's  old  palace,  be- 
neath this  pavement  on  which  I  tread,  sleeps  the  dust  of  Mar- 
tin Luther  ;  here,  a  few  paces  on  the  other  side  of  the  aisle, 
lie  the  ashes  of  Melanchthon  ;  united  in  their  lives  and  not 
divided  in  their  death.  What  an  aroma  fills  this  place ! 
There,  just  over  his  grave,  against  the  church  wall,  hangs  the 
portrait  of  this  glorious  hero,  painted  by  his  friend,  Lucas 


372  The  Old  World  ifi  its  New  Face. 

Cranach,  a  native  of  this  cit}',  and  looking  every  inch  a  king. 
That  broad,  burly  man,  with  a  great  sensuous  nature  and 
frame,  purged  and  refined  by  intellectual  and  spiritual  life, 
was  made  to  reform  the  Church  and  to  overturn  the  Papal 
power — the  mightiest  foe  human  courage  ever  yet  single- 
handed  was  called  to  assail  and  defy.  How  homely,  nay 
ugly,  that  bull-throated,  jumbled-up,  low-crowned,  square- 
shaped  visage  is  !  Yet,  what  genial  sweetness,  what  moral 
dignity,  what  largeness,  what  confidence,  what  humor  and  as- 
piration are  commingled  and  embodied  there  !  That  small, 
inexpressive  nose  is  the  only  unaccountable  feature.  The 
eye,  the  mouth,  the  double  chin,  the  great  throat,  the  full 
blood,  the  ample  paunch  and  chest,  all  are  as  we  would  have 
them.  But,  faithful  Cranach,  did  Luther  have  that  insignifi- 
cant nose  ?  Well,  Socrates  had  a  small  nose,  and  Luther  must 
have  carried  his  courage  and  firmness  in  some  other  member. 
Melanchthon  looks  in  his  portrait,  which  hangs  opposite, 
just  as  Luther  does  not — the  very  complement  of  his  great 
friend  and  companion.  His  high  and  overhanging  brow 
speaks  of  the  scholar  ;  his  sharp,  delicate  features  of  the  more 
shrinking  temperament  he  had  ;  his  whole  aspect,  so  saintly 
and  gentle,  of  the  man  of  thought  and  affection,  in  contrast 
with  the  man  of  passion  and  will.  There,  in  what  used  to  be 
the  old  choir  of  the  church,  are  the  efiigies,  in  iron  castings, 
from  Vischer's  skillful  hands,  of  Luther's  great  friends,  the 
two  Electors,  Frederick  the  Wise,  and  John  the  Steadfast ; 
and  outside,  upon  the  church  door,  where  bronze  gates  now 
occupy  the  place  of  the  original  doors,  is  a  copy  of  the  nine- 
ty-five theses  which  Luther  fixed  in  this  spot,  when  he  first 
challenged  the  Pope  to  the  combat  which  has  already  lasted 
three  and  a  half  centuries.  It  seems  as  if  the  news  from 
Rome  to-day  must  flatter  Luther's  ashes  here  in  Wittenberg, 
or  even  brighten  the  letters  on  these  bronze  gates.     Garibal- 


Luther  and  Melanchtho?i.  373 

di,  a  victor  at  her  doors,  and  with  Luther's  cry  in  his  mouth, 
seems  almost  the  fulfiUment  of  the  motto  which  stands  round 
the  mask  taken  from  Luther's  face  after  death — "Living,  I 
was  the  Pope's  pest ;  dying,  I  shall  be  his  death !"  Such 
fahh  is  its  own  fulfillment ! 

From  the  graves  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon  we  went  to 
their  statues,  noble  figures  raised  on  beautiful  pedestals  of 
polished  red  granite,  and  set  up  within  a  few  years,  one  by  a 
society  devoted  to  Luther's  memory,  the  other  by  the  King 
of  Prussia,  in  the  market-place  and  in  front  of  the  venerable 
town-hall,  on  whose  harmonious  front  Luther  and  Melanch- 
thon must  so  often  have  looked.  In  this  town-hall  are 
various  interesting  memorials  of  Luther,  especially  the  top 
of  his  beer-mug,  and,  what  was  more  curiously  suggestive,  the 
very  rosary  which  he  used  as  a  Catholic  priest.  I  handled 
the  beads,  expecting  to  feel  the  marks  of  Luther's  fingers  on 
them,  for  such  Paternosters  and  Ave  Marias  as  he  must 
have  told  off  on  this  string  could  not  fail  to  have  imparted 
virtue,  even  to  dull  beads.  Here  is  preserved  the  hand  of  a 
woman,  cut  off  after  her  execution,  which  took  place  in  front 
of  the  town-hall,  who  murdered  the  four  children  of  the  first 
wife  of  her  husband,  from  a  retrospective  jealousy.  Cranach's 
house  is  within  view  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon's  statues,  if 
their  spirits  ever  use  these  brazen  eye-balls  to  look  up  the 
haunts  of  their  life-time.  The  guide  pointed  us  to  Hamlet's 
house  as  we  passed  a  venerable  wine-shop  !  Because  Shake- 
speare sent  his  brain-child  to  college  at  Wittenberg,  they  have 
actually  hunted  up  the  lodgings  of  that  fancy.  So  solid  and 
actual  are  the  men  whom  Shakespeare  created,  that  they 
count  in  the  census  ! 

But  here  is  Luther's  house — or  rather  his  lodgings — in  the 
old  University,  where  he  was  Professor  of  Theology,  and 
which  remains  essentially  unchanged,  except  that  all  its  pu- 


374  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

pils  were  transferred  to  Halle  long  ago.  It  is  a  grim,  melan- 
choly old  place  ;  and  this  earthern  stove,  made  after  Luther's 
own  designs,  with  a  strange  jumble  of  evangelists  and  hea- 
thenish goddesses — Matthew  and  geometry,  John  and  trigo- 
nometry, etc.,  etc. — does  not  keep  it  warm  !  Luther's  ale- 
mug  (very  small  for  a  German's  draught)  and  a  broken  wine- 
glass, which  it  is  said  was  broken  by  Peter  the  Great  when 
he  visited  these  relics,  are  asserted  and  believed  to  be  genu- 
ine. More  interesting  is  the  oak  just  outside  the  gate  which 
marks  the  very  spot  where  Luther  burned  the  Pope's  bull, 
Dec.  ID,  1520. 

Melanchthon's  house  is  not  many  rods  from  Luther's,  and 
is  a  fine  house  still.  It  was  a  gift  to  the  great  man  from  his 
appreciative  townsmen.  Ojie  room  in  it  is  of  almost  un- 
equaled  interest.  Over  the  middle  window  is  a  Latin  in- 
scription to  this  effect  :  "  With  eyes  looking  to  the  North, 
here  Melanchthon  sat  and  wrote  those  works  which  the  world 
now  holds  so  dear;"  and  in  the  south-east  corner  another 
Latin  inscription  declares  that,  "  Against  this  wall  stood  the 
little  bed  on  which  Melanchthon  piously  and  placidly  ended 
his  blessed  life." 

There  are  many  other  things,  especially  pictures  and  por- 
traits of  Cranach,  at  Wittenberg,  of  lively  interest.  But  Lu- 
ther's and  Melanchthon's  traces  absorb  the  attention  wholly, 
and  make  other  memorials  unattractive.  In  the  handsome 
church — so  old  without,  so  new  within — the  Stadt  Kirche — 
is  the  pillar  against  which  Luther's  pulpit  rested.  The  church 
is  full  of  memorials  of  him,  the  font  in  which  he  and  Mel- 
anchthon were  wont  to  baptize  children,  pictures  of  his  famil}', 
and  old  monuments  of  his  friends.  But  the  echoes  of  his 
voice  are  the  best  memorial,  even  here.  That  these  walls 
have  vibrated  with  that  melodious  thunder,  is  their  best  sanc- 
tification  and  protection  ! 


Halle.  375 

Halle,  October  30. 

This  is  a  town  of  23,000  inhabitants,  situated  on  the  lit- 
tle, and,  for  this  flat  region,  picturesque  stream  of  the  Saale. 
It  is  an  old,  dull-looking  town,  but  has  some  large  manufac- 
tories— woolen,  looking-glass  frames,  and  iron  foundries  ;  but 
is  specially  known  for  its  salt-works  and  its  University.  The 
salt-works  are  small  compared  with  those  on  the  Salz-kam- 
mergut  in  the  Tyrol,  or  with  ours  at  Syracuse.  But  they  are 
here  worked  by  a  special  class  of  men,  known  as  Halloren, 
and  the  works  give  the  town  its  name.  These  Halloren 
have  prescriptive  rights,  one  of  which  is  the  right  to  attend 
and  form  a  part  of  certain  University  processions.  For  in- 
stance, to-day  the  students  and  officers  turned  out  in  force  to 
honor  a  student's  funeral.  The  Halloren  were  present  by  a 
delegation  of  workmen.  They  are  a  thin,  wiry-looking  race, 
with  all  their  thews  and  sinews  distinctly  visible.  They  work 
at  a  great  heat  in  the  rooms  where  the  crystallization  of  the 
salt-water  is  going  on,  and  are  naked  with  the  exception  of  a 
pair  of  loose  breeches.  They  must  sweat  off  all  their  fat  in 
this  constant  parboiling  atmosphere.  They  claimed  that  it 
was  not  an  unwholesome  life. 

Halle  has  a  noted  orphan  asylum,  founded  by  a  saintly 
Professor  of  the  University,  Francke,  who  begun  it  on  Mailer's 
principle  of  trusting  divine  Providence  for  the  means  of 
building  and  supporting  it.  It  was  carried  on  for  many 
years  very  successfully  under  the  pious  inspiration  which 
originated  it,  and  attracted  funds  from  religious  people 
throughout  Germany.  There  are  about  400  orphans  here, 
boys  and  girls,  mostly  between  ten  and  fourteen  years  of  age. 
The  buildings  occupy  an  immense  space,  and  look  as  if  de- 
signed to  house  thrice  the  number.  We  examined  the 
school-rooms,  eating-room  and  bedrooms.  They  were  de- 
cently ordered,  but  there  was  no  conspicuous  neatness,  meth- 


376  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

od  or  wisdom  in  the  external  arrangements.  Various 
trades,  especially  printing,  are  carried  on  by  the  orphans. 
There  are  day-schools  connected  with  the  "  Waisen-haus " 
which  are  largely  attended  by  the  children  of  the  town.  A 
beautiful  statue  of  the  founder,  with  two  orphans  at  his  feet, 
made  by  Ranch,  stands  before  the  inner  entrance  in  the 
court.  I  judge  that  the  original  spirit  has  somewhat  fallen 
off.  It  being  a  holiday,  we  saw  only  few  of  the  children,  and 
these  did  not  strike  us  very  favorably.  Music  is  a  specialty 
in  the  asylum,  and  the  children  are  said  to  sing  finely.  We 
could  get  no  special  attention  from  the  officers,  who  put  us 
in  charge  of  an  incompetent  door-keeper,  who  could  answer 
none  of  our  questions  satisfactorily.  There  was  nothing  in 
the  orphan-house  that  made  it  interesting  beyond  the  inter- 
est that  attaches  to  all  such  places,  except  a  certain  freedom 
from  routine  and  a  habitual  reliance  on  the  good-will  and 
self-care  of  the  children.  They  were  allowed,  the  porter 
told  us,  to  go  into  the  town  alone  on  holidays,  which  occurred 
often. 

The  University  here  was  in  session,  and  the  streets  were 
full  of  students  in  their  club-caps,  some  of  them  of  a  very 
tawdry  and  Oriental  description,  not  two  inches  high,  and 
stuck  on  the  top  of  the  head,  stiff  with  gold  lace  in  a  very 
theatrical  fashion.  There  are  1200  students  here — a  very 
rapid  increase.  They  appear  to  be  their  own  masters,  as  is 
common  in  German  Universities.  They  drink  beer  and  fight 
duels,  spite  of  the  energetic  discouragement  which  Dr.  Tho- 
luck  and  other  enlightened  professors  make  to  this  barbarity. 
The  existence  of  a  special  administration  of  college  laws, 
exempting  the  students  from  the  usual  police  laws  of  the 
University  towns,  is  the  chief  encouragement  of  this  middle- 
age  folly.  A  petition,  very  numerously  signed,  appealing 
last  year  to  the  Government  of  Prussia  to  abolish  the  special 


Tholuck.  377 

jurisdiction  of  the  Universities  in  police  laws,  was  vetoed,  it  is 
said,  by  the  King,  who,  as  a  soldier,  believes  in  duelling.  He 
is  not  alone  in  this  absurd  prejudice.  Very  worthy  men  here 
are  found  justifying  and  upholding  duelling  as  a  means  of 
keeping  discourtesy  and  rude  provincial  manners  from  creep- 
ing into  the  Universities  and  the  army.  The  theory  of  Prus- 
sia and  most  kingly  states,  that  the  army  and  the  diplomatic 
service  are  the  only  highly  honorable  careers,  and  that  com- 
merce and  the  professions  are  occupations  fit  only  for  vulgar 
blood,  is  itself  upheld  by  duelling,  which  is  accounted  a  duty 
in  the  army  and  is  enforced  by  a  quasi-official  authority.  It 
is  the  high-born  students  who,  in  imitation  of  their  knightly 
ancestors,  keep  it  up  in  the  Universities. 

Halle,  the  old  home  of  Gesenius  (who  died  in  1840),  and 
the  present  home  of  Dr.  Tholuck,  has  between  three  and  four 
hundred  theological  students.  Julius  Mtiller  is  here  Profes- 
sor of  dogmatic  Theology,  and  of  the  same  school  with  Dorner. 
Erdmann,  who  has  a  European  reputation,  and  Ulrici,  who 
has  lately  written  a  valuable  work,  called  "  God  and  Nature," 
in  which  very  positive  theistic  views  are  derived  from  a  scien- 
tific examination  of  physical  things,  are  among  the  professors. 

Having  but  a  very  short  time  to  spend  here,  I  called  on 
Professor  Tholuck,  at  the  afternoon  hour  when  he  daily  re- 
ceives visitors.  I  may  mention,  as  an  excellent  Continental 
usage,  that  public  men,  subject  to  many  calls,  all  have  their 
hour  or  two,  when  alone  they  can  be  seen,  published  in  the 
town  directory  after  their  names.  Might  it  not  be  wisely 
copied  in  America  ?  I  found  Tholuck,  walking  with  a  young 
man,  in  a  covered  way  at  the  bottom  of  his  garden,  evident- 
ly the  place  where  he  gets  his  daily  exercise.  He  looks  a 
man  of  seventy  years,  of  a  slight  figure,  and  with  delicate  and 
irregular  features,  of  an  unusual  shrewdness  and  gentleness, 
an  acute  saint.     He  talks  English  admirably.     He  was  evi- 


378  llie  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

dently  not  unpreoccupied,  and  my  visit  had  clearly  interrupt- 
ed some  serious  conference  with  the  young  man,  who  looked 
terribly  disappointed  at  the  sudden  appearance  of  strangers. 
This  consciousness  shortened  our  call,  but  in  twenty  minutes 
I  had  enjoyed  an  interesting  opportunity  of  tasting  the  qual- 
ity of  this  extraordinary  man,  and  of  asking  many  questions 
on  which  I  desired  his  opinion.  He  showed  his  superiority 
by  the  self-command  with  which  he  turned  from  his  own  in- 
terests to  meet  my  inquiries,  and  his  eminent  courtesy  and 
kindness  mixed  with  a  self-centered  fidelity  to  his  own  opin- 
ions. Tholuck  seems  to  unite  the  largest  measure  of  the 
pietistic  fervor,  for  which  Halle  has  been  marked,  with  a 
spirit  of  open  intelligence,  a  wide-minded  charity  for  opinions, 
and,  what  is  better,  for  men  holding  opinions  he  deems  er- 
roneous in  a  truthful  and  reverent  temper.  Then  he  spoke 
of  Keim  of  Zurich — whose  life  of  Jesus  has  of  late  awakened 
much  attention,  and  who  has  advocated  strictly  humanitarian 
views  of  Christ — as  a  man  for  whose  spirit  and  character  he 
had  a  lively  respect.  Tholuck  is  Orthodox,  and  sympathizes 
with  Orthodox  men  and  Orthodox  views  ;  but  he  is  thorough- 
ly liberal  also,  and  understands  the  difficulties  of  Orthodox 
theology,  and  the  honesty  and  necessity  which  compels  many 
other  earnest  and  true  men  to  reject  them.  He  evidently 
had  little  sympathy  with  what  he  said  was  the  rising  school 
in  Germany,  the  school  of  Hengstenberg,  the  school  of  the 
reactionnaires,  whose  first  principle  is  "  veneration  for  the  opin- 
ions of  their  illustrious  Protestant  fathers,"  and  who  are  striv- 
ing to  dam  out  liberalism  and  what  they  call  atheism,  infi- 
delity and  materialism,  by  heaping  up  all  the  opinions  and 
usages  they  can  recover  from  the  dogmatic  faith  and  practice 
of  Luther  and  his  fellow-reformers.  This  is  the  timid  and 
sacred  work  in  which  the  German  churchmen,  the  analogues 
of  the   English  Puseyites  and   High  Churchmen,  and   the 


German  High   Churchism.  379 

American  stiff-backed  Episcopalians,  are  now  engaged.  And 
the  aristocracy  and  wealth  of  the  country  are  aiding  their 
work.  They  wish  to  bring  back  the  old  principle  of  authori- 
ty, so  far  as  Luther  spared  it ;  and  forgetting  what  an  icono- 
clast of  the  ecclesiasticism  of  his  day  he  was,  they  choose  to 
remember  only  what  assumptions  and  what  exercise  of  priest- 
ly powers  and  rites  he  still  left  in  Protestantism.  To  save 
the  Church  by  denouncing  examination,  or  any  conclusicr's 
of  examination  other  than  the  theology,  pure  and  simple, 
which  Luther  taught,  this  is  their  policy.  They  are  resolved 
to  make  Luther's  theology  true,  by  boldly  declaring  it  so. 
Like  the  superstitious  usage  of  those  who  make  the  Prayer- 
book  more  sacred  than  the  Bible,  and  quote  the  Rubric  as 
decisive  of  theological  questions — these  German  Established 
Churchmen  are  boldly  practicing  the  childish  game — 

"  Open  your  mouth,  and  shut  your  eyes, 
And  I'll  give  you  something  to  make  you  wise." 

In  concert  with  the  State  authorities  and  the  conservatives  of 
existing  wealth  and  station,  they  distribute  places  in  the 
Church  chiefly  to  those  who  will  join  them  in  this  foolish, 
though  just  now  successful,  policy  of  carrying  Protestantism 
forward  on  Roman  Catholic  principles.  Tholuck  was  guard- 
ed in  what  he  said,  but  it  was  clear  enough  that  his  heart 
was  with  Dorner  and  the  school  who,  while  fully  accepting 
historical  and  supernatural  Christianity,  look  to  the  inner 
consciousness  and  to  spiritual  experience  for  its  everlasting 
basis  and  interpretation.  I  can  not  think  these  mild  Ortho- 
dox men  logical  in  their  views,  but  they  afe  so  far  in  advance 
of  the  alarmists  who  have  forgotten  Melanchthon's  motto, 
"  Dare  to  know,"  and  Luther's  whole  example,  that  it  is  most 
refreshing  to  get  into  their  atmosphere.  Tholuck  said  that 
since  1820  there  had  been  a  reaction  in  Germany  upon  the 
Rationalistic  school,  and  that  Rationalism  might  be  consid- 


380  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ered  as  dead  in  its  original  character;  but  that  since  1848 
there  had  been  another  tendency  gathering  force  which  was 
more  positively  inimical  to  Christian  faith.  I  supioose  he 
meant  the  materialistic  school  born  in  the  chemical  crucible, 
or  under  the  knife  of  the  medical  men.  He  said  that  in 
spite  of  the  general  tendency  of  Physics  to  question  or  deny 
revealed  religion,  the  best  and  ablest  physicists  were  now  ex- 
pressing other  opinions  and  exerting  another  influence. 
There  was  something  very  affecting  to  me  in  the  evident 
struggle  in  Tholuck's  mind  between  a  constitutional  confi- 
dence in  truth,  a  faith  in  the  right  to  inquire  and  advance, 
and  a  sympathy  with  liberal  studies  and  liberal  men  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  a  foreboding  of  the  possible  re- 
sults of  these  inquiries  to  opinions  dear  to  his  devout  heart 
and  wrought  in  with  his  life-long  habits.  An  old  man,  and 
not  likely  to  see  the  end  of  the  present  controversy,  he  seem- 
ed to  feel  himself  and  his  party  in  Germany  on  the  losing 
side,  and  yet  to  be  determined  to  live  and  die  its  advocate. 
The  moderate  Orthodoxy  of  the  noblest  men  in  Germany  is 
not  as  strong  as  the  positiveness  and  the  organized  diploma- 
cy of  the  representatives  of  the  by-gone  dogmas  of  three 
hundred  years  ago.  There  is  no  hope  for  the  half-hearted, 
illogical  theology  which  is  marrying  together  Trinitarian  for- 
mulas and  modern  philosophy.  Dorner  and  Tholuck  and 
Miiller  and  the  rest  must  have  the  courage  of  their  principles, 
if  they  do  not  wish  to  see  such  men  as  Keim  and  Schenkel 
and  Schweitzer  taking  the  young  mind  of  Germany,  and 
building  up  a  thoroughly  reformed  faith  upon  rational  founda- 
tions, without  too  much  regard  to  foregone  formulas.  Dr. 
Tholuck  spoke  with  great  affection  of  his  old  pupils.  Rev. 
Charles  Lowe  and  Rev.  Edward  Young,  and  also  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Foote,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  lately  made.  He  hoped 
such  men  would  do  something  to  convince  the  world  that 


Inauguration  at  Leipsic.  381 

Unitarianism  was  not  exclusively  a  religion  of  the  intellect. 
I  told  him  that  none  who  knew  what  it  really  was  in  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  its  true  disciples  could  feel  that  that  testi- 
mony was  any  longer  necessary. 

Leipsic,  October  31. 

This  is  an  important  day  in  Leipsic.  A  new  Rector  is  in- 
stalled over  the  venerable  University,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
Europe,  having  been  founded  in  1420.  The  Rector  of  Eu- 
ropean Universities  is  elected  either  annually  or  for  short 
periods,  and  for  the  time  fulfills  the  duties  of  President. 
The  professors  and  a  crowd  of  students  and  guests  assem- 
bled at  12  M.  in  the  Aula,  or  Saloon  of  State  in  the  Augus- 
teum,  the  name  of  the  chief  University  building.  After 
singing  Krummacher's  Hymn,  "Jehova's  Wort  kann  nicht 
vergchn,"  a  short  speech  of  inauguration  was  made,  and  a 
mande  of  office  thrown  over  the  new  Rector.  Then  follow- 
ed a  festival  song  of  Schiller,  set  to  music  by  Mendelssohn, 
This  concluded  the  in-door  exercises,  out-of-doors  a  proces- 
sion in  carriages,  six-horse,  four-horse,  and  two-horse  vehicles, 
to  the  number  of  sixty,  paraded  through  the  city.  This  day 
falls  upon  the  annual  commemoration  called  the  Reforma- 
tion Festival,  the  31st  October,  a  day  now  very  generally, 
with  increasing  fervor,  celebrated  throughout  Protestant  Ger- 
many. We  found  preparation  for  it  making  at  Wittenberg, 
where  Luther's  house  was  garlanded  with  wreaths.  Here  it 
was  celebrated  by  a  general  cessation  from  business,  and  by 
public  religious  exercises  in  all  the  churches.  We  attended 
the  special  service  held  in  St.  Thomas's  school,  where  the 
celebrated  choir  of  men  and  boys  were  expected  to  sing. 
Sebastian  Bach  was  precentor  to  this  school,  and  music  has 
been  one  of  its  specialties  for  centuries.  The  choir  of  forty 
voices  sang  Luther's  hymn,  "  Ein  feste  burg  ist  unser  Gott," 


382  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

to  very  expressive  fugue  music,  and  in  a  manner  beyond  all 
praise.     It  was  the  perfection  of  chorus-singing,  and  excited 

the  greatest  enthusiasm.      Then  Professor  ,  rector  of 

the  school,  made  an  address  in  honor  of  the  day,  marked  by 
earnestness,  force,  and  nobleness  of  tone.  He  pictured  the 
relations  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  and  distributed  their 
honors  with  an  impartial  and  most  discriminating  hand.  It 
was  clear  that  he  loved  Melanchthon,  as  scholars  must,  better 
than  Luther.  He  called  him  repeatedly  "  our  dear  Philip," 
and  said  that  he  was  the  teacher  of  all  Germany,  and  that 
his  books  had  continued  to  be  used  in  the  schools  of  Ger- 
many for  nearly  four  hundred  years. 

In  the  evening  a  concert  was  given  at  the  Gewand-haus 
(I  suppose  the  old  Clothier's  Hall),  under  the  direction  of 
the  Conservatory  of  Music,  doubtless  the  finest  in  Germany, 
and  enjoying  a  reputation  hardly  second  to  Paris.  These 
concerts  are  known  to  musicians  everywhere  as  the  most 
finished  and  classical  performances  anywhere  to  be  heard. 
They  are  attended  by  subscribers  only,  who  are  so  jealous  of 
their  places  that  it  is  only  by  the  greatest  favor  that  stran- 
gers can  procure  admission,  and  then  only  by  buying  through 
some  broker  tickets  which  the  owners  may  through  sickness 
or  absence  be  unable  to  use.  We  were  lucky  enough  to  get 
three  after  twenty-four  hours  of  seeking.  The  concert  repaid 
our  pains.  The  room  holds  only  six  hundred  persons.  The 
orchestra  occupied  a  quarter  of  the  space.  Only  instrument- 
al music  was  given,  comprising  a  glorious  overture  (to  an  un- 
published opera)  on  the  theme  of  "  Luther's  Hymn,"  in  honor 
of  the  occasion,  and  some  short  pieces  from  Beethoven's  "  Fi- 
delio."  One  of  Schumann's  piano  concert  pieces  was  per- 
formed, with  full  orchestra,  by  Fraulein  ,  of  Hanover ; 

Concert-master  Deecke,  from  Munster,  played  admirably  one 
of  Spohr's  pieces  for  the  violin,  and  the  concert  concluded 


The  Great  Fairs.  383 

with  Mozart's  Symphony  in  D  flat.  Precision  was  the  marked 
feature  of  the  performance,  which  was  as  nearly  fauhless 
in  time  and  tune  as  my  senses  could  measure  perfection. 
There  was  an  extraordinary  seriousness  in  the  performers 
and  in  the  audience.  The  orchestra  seemed  in  the  hands 
of  men  as  grave  and  scholarly  as  if  they  had  been  professors 
in  the  university',  and  the  people  listened  as  if  they  had 
been  at  church.  The  applause,  with  the  exception  of  a 
hearty  tribute  to  the  violinist  at  the  close  of  the  performance, 
was  very  measured.  The  Conservatory  has  a  most  thorough 
system  of  instruction  running  through  three  years.  The 
pupils  can  only  enter  after  examination  as  to  character,  at- 
tainments and  fitness  to  make  good  musicians.  It  costs 
about  sixty  dollars  a  year  in  fees,  and  four  or  five  hundred 
more  in  living  expenses,  according  to  the  student's  habits  of 
economy.  There  are  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils 
here  from  all  countries.  Leipsic  is  the  centre  of  musical 
taste  and  studies  in  Germany  and  of  the  publication  of 
music. 

The  city  is  a  much  more  sightly  and  pleasant  town  than  I 
expected  to  find  it.  It  is  open  and  airy,  with  fine  prome- 
nades where  its  old  walls  used  to  stand.  The  university 
building,  the  museum,  post-office,  new  theatre  and  other  pub- 
lic edifices  are  all  near  each  other,  and  make  a  very  impress- 
ive collection  of  structures.  There  are  many  evidences  of 
wealth  and  prosperity  in  the  princely-looking  private  resi- 
dences in  the  paved  parts  of  the  city.  The  gardens,  the  Jo- 
hannen  Park  and  the  Rosenthal,  joined  by  a  charming  forest 
drive,  make  the  immediate  suburbs  very  agreeable,  flat  as 
they  are. 

The  great  fairs,  eight  hundred  years  old  they  claim  to  be, 
occur  three  times  a  year  and  draw  Oriental  as  well  as  West- 
ern merchants  to  their  great  sales.     A  hundred  millions  of 


384  The  Old  World  in  its  Nnv  Face. 

francs  is  said  to  be  the  ordinary  measure  of  the  transactions 
of  the  year  at  these  fairs,  which  last  only  three  weeks  .each. 
Leipsic  is,  too,  the  centre  of  the  German  book-trade.  It  has 
an  exchange  devoted  wholly  to  book-sellers,  who  come  here 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  open  every  day,  and  is  de- 
voted one  day  to  Greek  and  Latin  book  sales,  another  to 
French,  another  to  German,  and  so  on. 

The  "Aula"  of  the  University  contains  a  few  fine  busts, 
especially  one  of  Leibnitz,  a  native  of  Leipsic,  and  another 
of  Goethe.  The  History  of  Civilization  just  under  the  cor- 
nice, in  a  series  of  squares,  is  too  high  up  to  be  seen  to  any 
advantage,  but  appears  worthy  of  a  better  position. 

The  museum  is  rich  in  modern  pictures,  especially  in  four 
great  landscapes  of  Calame,  much  the  largest  and  finest,  with 
one  exception  (at  Basle),  I  have  met  with,  They  exhibit  his 
powerful  pencil  in  all  its  various  ways,  and  would  hardly  be 
supposed  to  proceed  from  one  master.  The  view  of  Monte 
Rosa  at  sunset  is  one  of  the  boldest  landscapes  in  the  world. 
Spagnoletti  never  dared  more  vivid  contrasts  than  Calame 
has  triumphantly  used  in  this  master-piece.  Paul  de  la 
Roche's  picture  of  Napoleon,  at  Fontainebleau,  after  the  bat- 
tles of  18 13,  which  saved  Leipsic  and  Europe,  is  very  properly 

• 

found  in  this  museum.  Though  familiar  by  so  many  copies, 
it  has  a  new  interest  when  seen  here,  where  every  foot  of 
ground  for  miles  around  has  been  trampled  by  Napoleon's 
soldiers.  Leipsic  is  full  of  memorials  of  those  days,  and  es- 
pecially of  monuments  in  which  cannon-balls,  saved  from  all 
the  fields  where  the  Allies  succeeded,  are  piled  up  as  memo- 
rials. Few  spots  in  the  world  are  as  blood-stained  as  Lutzen 
in  its  immediate  neighborhood. 

Bach's  monument,  erected  here  by  Mendelssohn,  is  of 
special  interest.  Hahnemann,  too,  sits  upon  his  pedestal,  in 
the  midst  of  multitudes  of  followers.     Leipsic  makes  a  large 


Homoeopathy. 


385 


part  of  all  the  homoeopathic  medicine  of  the  world.  .  Ger- 
many has  numerous  physicians  of  that  school,  although  they 
are  more  eclectic  in  their  practice  than  our  homoeopathic 
doctors  profess  to  be. 


R 


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XXXI. 


DRESDEN. 


Saxony,  November  6,  1867. 

CAXONY  seems  to  be  the  New  England  of  Germany. 
Protestant,  industrial,  stocked  with  an  intelligent,  order- 
ly, sober,  moral  and  busy  population,  it  is  filled  with  facto- 
ries and  workshops,  and  makes  the  whole  world  tributary  to 
its  skill  in  textures  and  in  iron.  It  supplies  America  with  a 
large  portion  of  all  its  stockings,  and  produces  an  immense 
amount  of  linen  and  woolen  fabrics.  Its  connection  with 
the  Customs-Union,  of  which  Prussia  is  the  leading  and  con- 
trolling member,  has  stimulated  its  production  greatly,  and 
laid  the  way  for  a  final  absorption  in  the  great  political  union 
which  is  rapidly  but  cautiously  forming  all  over  Germany. 
The  mild  and  liberal  rule  of  its  princes,  under  the  unambi- 
tious, artistic  or  scholarly  family  of  its  ruling  house,  will  not 
save  it  from  falling  into  the  arms  of  that  great  nationality 
which  is  fast  rubbing  out  the  little  kingdoms  and  principali- 
ties that  have  so  long  spotted  and  speckled  the  map  of  the 
Father-land.  Saxony  made  a  sad  mistake  in  the  late  German 
war.  She  sided  with  Austria,  not  because  the  sympathies 
of  the  people  ran  that  way,  although  they  were  not  positively 
inclined  to  the  other  side,  but  because  her  Catholic  King 
leaned  to  the  Catholic  cause  represented  by  Austria.  With- 
out asking  the  consent  of  his  Parliament,  the  King  suddenly, 
almost  furtively,  sent  40,000  men  to  the  aid  of  the  Austrian 
Emperor.     They  left  the  city  of  Dresden  on  a  Sunday  morn- 


The  King's  Position.  387 

ing,  and  before  thirty-six  hours  a  detachment  of  Prussian 
soldiers  marched  into  Dresden,  and  occupied  the  city  for 
nearly  a  whole  year.  Their  conduct  here  was  orderly,  con- 
siderate and  ingratiating,  and  won  the  sympathies  of  the  best 
part  of  the  people.  They  compared  only  too  favorably  their 
gentlemanly  behavior  with  what  they  imagined  would  have 
been  the  conduct  of  the  Austrian  army,  so  largely  recruited 
from  Slavonic  provinces,  which  produce,  in  their  judgment, 
only  a  semi-barbaric  population.  Of  the  40,000  Saxons  who 
went  to  the  late  war,  ten  thousand  never  returned,  a  loss 
nearly  equal  to  the  whole  destruction  of  Prussian  soldiers, 
and  a  bereavement  too  heavy  for  this  small  kingdom  not  to 
be  long  remembered  against  the  mistaken  monarch  who 
caused  it.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  the  Saxon  kingdom  will 
not  long  consider  its  fictitious  independence  worth  the  main- 
tenance of  a  royal  establishment.  King  John  has  less  inde- 
pendence than  the  Governor  of  an  American  state.  His 
Parliament  is  very  much  limited  in  its  legislative  functions  by 
the  veto  which  Prussia  possesses  in  the  Customs-Union.  The 
sentiment  of  the  people  (the  few  nobles  of  course  take  a  dif- 
ferent view)  is  decidedly  favorable  to  a  complete  union  with 
the  German  Bund.  The  Crown  Prince,  who  is  a  good  sol- 
dier, and  distinguished  himself  in  the  recent  war,  seems  to 
count  the  succession  so  little  attractive  that  he  is  reported 
to  have  made  some  overtures  to  the  second  son  (his  only 
brother)  to  exchange  the  political  inheritance  for  the  pecun- 
iary heritage  which  by  usage  falls  to  him. 

It  is  very  unfortunate  for  Saxony  that  she  possesses  Ro- 
man Catholic  sovereigns,  a  misfortune  which  is  entailed  most 
unnaturally  on  her  in  the  bargain  by  which  the  crown  of  Po- 
land was  settled  on  one  of  her  princes,  on  condition  of  his 
professing,  against  all  the  proud  Protestant  antecedents  of 
the  house,  the  Catholic  faith.     The  descendants  of  this  King 


388  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

of  Poland  have  kept  the  bargain  with  superfluous  fidelity. 
Losing  the  kingdom,  they  have  held  on  to  the  faith  that  pur- 
chased it.  It  has  produced  no  effect  upon  the  people,  who 
have  not  followed  at  all  the  lead  set  them.  Dresden,  the 
seat  of  a  Bishop  (who  is  hardly  more  than  private  chaplain 
of  the  King,  and  is  nominated  by  him  to  his  see),  possesses 
only  one  Catholic  church,  and  not  over  5000  Catholics. 
The  beautiful  music  for  which  this  church  is  celebrated  has 
not  corrupted  the  Protestant  faith  of  those  living  in  its 
shadow.  Protestantism  flourishes,  and  possesses  several 
beautiful  churches,  inherited  from  Catholic  builders,  which 
are  fortresses  of  the  faith  of  the  old  Saxon  Electors,  to  whom 
the  Reformation  owed  so  much  of  its  protection  in  the  days 
it  needed  it  most.  Fortresses  they  are  in  every  sense ;  for 
some  of  their  stone  domes  and  towers  have  successfully  re- 
sisted bombardments  expressly  aimed  to  destroy  them. 
Black  and  resistful,  they  rear  their  smoked  and  grimy  visors, 
battle-stained,  against  the  sky,  and  seem  to  challenge  the 
utmost  malice  of  the  Catholic  power ;  fit  symbols  of  the  en- 
during firmness  and  settled  purpose  of  this  sturdy  Protestant 
stronghold.  Not  that  Saxony,  more  than  any  other  part  of 
Germany,  is  marked  by  a  very  active  religious  life ;  but  it  is 
characterized  by  an  inflexible  anti-Catholicism. 

Even  in  respect  of  external  religious  observances,  it  is  in 
advance  of  most  other  German  states.  Twenty  years  ago, 
the  Rationalism  which  was  nearly  universal  in  Germany  had 
inundated  Saxony,  and  very  much  weakened  the  interest  in 
any  form  of  ecclesiastical  life.  It  is  attributed  to  Von  Beust, 
the  late  vigorous  Minister  of  Saxony — now  transferred  to 
Austria — that  he  brought  to  Dresden  a  Dr.  Harless,  an  able 
and  positively  Orthodox  pastor,  who,  by  his  earnestness  and 
downright  affirmativeness,  changed  the  tenor  of  the  preaching 
in   all   the  pulpits,  and  the  disposition  of  the   people,  and 


operatic  Churches.  389 

revived  a  very  thorough-going,  old-fashioned  Lutheranism, 
which  has  since  had  power  with  the  community.  I  do  not 
find,  on  personal  visits  to  the  churches,  any  considerable 
verification  of  the  statement  that  public  worship  engages  the 
affections  and  the  presence  of  the  Saxon  men.  A  fair  at- 
tendance of  women  and  children  may  be  seen,  but  men  are 
scarce  in  the  churches.  The  pastors  are  exceedingly  busy. 
In  the  chief  Protestant  churches  service  is  held  on  Sundays 
four  or  five  times  through  the  day  (never  later  than  4  p.m., 
when  festivity  is  in  order),  beginning  at  5^  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  for  the  accommodation  of  servants  and  other  per- 
sons occupied  through  the  midday  hours.  I  attended  two 
of  these  services  on  one  Sunday,  and  counted  in  a  range  of 
pews  near  me  forty-seven  women  and  three  men.  I  heard 
in  one  of  the  churches  a  most  living  sermon  from  an  admira- 
ble pulpit  orator,  on  the  difference  between  Revolution  and 
Reformation  in  Religious  History — apropos  to  the  three  hun- 
dred and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Reformation.  The  two 
churches  I  visited  were  grand  structures  externally,  and 
stately  within,  but  were  arranged  too  much  like  opera-houses 
for  ecclesiastical  secmliness.  They  had  a  parquette  and  a 
succession  of  tiers  of  boxes — which  did  not  gain  any  thing  in 
religious  effect  by  being  in  the  principal  tier  fitted  with  win- 
dows and  thoroughly  enclosed  and  locked.  These  boxes 
are  purchased  in  perpetuity  by  the  more  prosperous  families, 
and  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  like  our 
pews.  But  they  pay  no  annual  tax,  and  what  is  worse,  were 
almost  wholly  empty,  though  all  disposed  of  The  Protest- 
ant churches  are  superintended  by  the  government,  but  not 
supported  by  it.  They  have  large  funds  which,  it  is  said, 
amply  support  four  or  five  pastors  for  each  church.  Two 
thousand  dollars,  with  fees  for  special  services  amounting 
to  a  thousand  more,  is  the  utmost  salary,  and  is  considered  a 


390  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

very  ample  support  in  this  comparatively  cheap  town.  The 
Lutheran  service  is  formal ;  the  prayers  are  read  with  no 
pretension  of  devout  absorption  in  the  pastor's  manner.  The 
singing  is  excellent  in  Dresden,  both  in  character  and  exe- 
cution— thoroughly  religious  in  style,  being  of  the  choral  &oi-t, 
and  generally  joined  in  by  the  people.  I  can  think  of  no 
way  of  reforming  our  American  church  music  more  likely  to 
succeed  than  that  of  sending  a  competent  person  to  Leipsic 
or  Dresden  to  study  the  methods  used  here,  and  carry  back 
to  America  both  the  tunes  and  the  training  which  are  so  sat- 
isfactory here.  I  believe  it  would  reward  any  large  city  par- 
ish to  educate  abroad  a  chorister  with  special  reference  to  its 
own  wants. 

Dresden  is  a  dull-looking  place  —  its  squares  gloomy, 
and  unoccupied  by  a  bustling  population.  Its  streets  are 
narrow,  and  its  chief  avenue  is  interrupted  by  a  contracted 
archway  under  the  heavy  old  palace,  which  admits  the  pas- 
sage of  only  one  vehicle  at  a  time,  and  constitutes  a  nuisance 
of  the  first  magnitude,  which  is  borne  with  a  humiliating  pa- 
tience by  the  people.  The  public  buildings  are  chiefly  due 
to  Augustus  the  Strong,  who  plays  the  same  great  part  in 
Saxon  architecture  that  Louis  XIV.  did  in  French,  or  Maria 
Theresa  in  Austrian.  To  him,  too,  is  due,  with  the  aid  of 
his  great  Minister,  Von  Bruhl,  the  foundation  of  the  greatness 
of  the  Gallery  which  is  the  chief  ornament  of  Dresden.  The 
purchase  of  a  collection  in  1745,  containing  a  hundred  valuable 
pictures,  from  the  Duke  of  Modena,  when  he  was  an  exile 
from  his  kingdom  and  in  sore  pecuniary  distress,  was  the 
first  grand  accession  to  the  Gallery,  which  had  already  made 
a  good  beginning,  and  possessed,  as  early  as  1722,  the  famous 
Venus  of  Titian,  and  the  two  celebrated  landscapes  of 
Claude.  The  history  of  the  diplomacy  by  which  the  Madon- 
na Sixtus,  the  Holbein  Madonna,  and  Guido  Reni's  "Ninus 


Master-pieces  of  Painters.  391 

and  Semiramis  "  were  obtained,  inclines  one  to  say  that  king- 
doms have  been  won  and  lost  in  a  less  painful  and  less  skill- 
ful battle  of  wits  than  these  pictures  cost — where  long  resi- 
dences abroad  of  the  most  adroit  agents,  maintaining  a  vo- 
luminous correspondence  with  the  Saxon  Prime  Minister, 
often  in  cipher,  were  necessary  to  accomplish  their  objects, 
and  secure  these  prizes  at  a  not  too  heavy  cost  of  money. 
Dresden  possesses — when  its  variety  is  kept  in  view — an  al- 
most unequaled  Gallery.  It  contains  master-pieces  of  the 
Roman,  Lombardic,  Venetian,  Bolognese,  Genoese  and  Nea- 
politan schools ;  a  few  excellent  examples  of  the  Spanish 
school,  although  Murillo  is  feebly  represented.  The  French 
school  is  well  exhibited  in  numerous  pictures  of  Nicolas  and 
Gaspar  Poussin,  Claude,  Courtois,  Watteau  and  Anthony 
Pesne,  as  well  as  Vernet  and  Gerard.  The  Flemish  sehool 
is  overwhelmingly  rich  is  nearly  four  hundred  pictures,  where 
Floris,  the  Breughels,  Jordaens,  Bril,  the  Franckens,  Savery, 
Rubens  (in  astonishing  abundance,  not  less  than  thirty-five 
pictures),  Snyders,  Teniers  (also  immensely  abundant),  and 
Van  Dyk,  are  to  be  studied  and  enjoyed  to  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage. The  Dutch  school  is  .still  more  fully  represented 
in  about  six  hundred  pictures — a  full  quarter  of  the  whole 
Gallery.  Poelemburg,  the  landscapist,  so  great  in  small  fig- 
ures ;  Gerard  Dow,  with  his  pre-Raphaelite  truth  of  interiors 
and  portraits  ;  Brouwer,  with  his  boors,  always  in  row  ;  Rem- 
brandt, with  his  mastery  of  chiaroscuro  and  his  richness  of 
color,  and  his  profound  insight  into  character  and  a  certain 
grandiose  majesty  in  his  treatment  even  of  coarse  subjects; 
Bol,  who  renders  Jacob's  Dream  so  tenderly  ;  Both ;  Ostade, 
who  must  have  lived  in  a  Dutch  inn,  and  spent  his  life 
watching  the  smoking  and  drinking  and  card-playing  of  his 
coarser  countrymen ;  Ruysdael  (Jacob),  whose  fine  deep 
greens  and  living  water  make  him  justly  so  great  a  favorite — 


392  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

alone  in  the  poetry  of  the  landscapists  among  the  Dutch  ; 
Metzu,  a  more  refined  Ostade ;  Wouvermans,  whose  famous 
white  horse  lights  up  at  least  fifty  different  landscapes,  all 
good,  but  each  so  like  the  others  that  one  feels  it  would  be 
a  mercy  to  the  Dresden  Gallery  to  burn  or  scatter  nine-tenths 
of  all  this  master  it  possesses ;  Berghem,  who  was  capable 
of  landscape  and  figures,  and  shows  a  variety  unusual  in  the 
Dutch  artists,  as  well  as  the  finest  technical  excellency; 
Paul  Potter,  in  three  good  but  inconsiderable  specimens ; 
Mieris,  who  does  so  much  better  what  a  certain  famous 
French  school  are  now  making  so  popular — all  that  can  be 
done  in  rendering  the  texture  and  sheen  and  flow  of  silk  and 
satin  draperies  ;  Mignon,  fatiguingly  successful  in  flowers 
and  fruits ;  Netscher,  full  of  elegance  and  exquisite  finish  in 
his  women,  which  are  daintily  grouped  in  fascinating  interi- 
ors ;  Schalken,  whose  candle-light  effects  are  so  widely 
valued  ;  Weenix,  famous  for  his  game  ;  Adrian  Van  der  Werff, 
who  possesses  the  softest  and  most  ivory-like  execution, 
united  to  an  aristocratic  elegance,  and  a  harmonious  perfec- 
tion not  to  be  surpassed. 

In  the  Flemish  school,  the  Dresden  Gallery  contains  val- 
uable specimens  of  John  Van  Eyck,  that  originator  of  a  new 
school,  especially  a  beautiful  Virgin  and  Child,  with  St.  Cath- 
arine and  St.  Michael  on  either  side ;  of  Quintin  Messys,  a 
fine  character  piece  ;  of  Albert  Durer,  three  or  four  not  su- 
perior specimens  ;  of  Cranach,  father  and  son,  very  rich  and 
various  representatives.  A  portrait  of  Luther  in  his  shroild, 
by  an  unknown  artist,  gives  a  finer  idea  of  his  noble  charac- 
ter than  any  picture  of  the  living  man  I  have  met  with.  Hol- 
bein is  represented  by  one  of  the  two  greatest  and  most 
precious  pictures  of  the  Gallery ;  the  famous  picture  of  the 
Burgomaster  Jacques  Meyer  and  his  family  prostrate  before 
the  Holy  Virgin,  who  holds  the  infant  Jesus  in  her  arms.     A 


The  Fleinish  School.  393 

great  dispute  exists  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  puny  and  ailing 
child  in  the  arms  of  the  Madonna,  many  contending  that  she 
has  put  down  the  Christ-child  (the  vigorous  and  handsome 
child  who  stands  in  the  foreground  of  the  group  on  the  male 
side  of  this  picture)  and  taken  up  the  sick  child  of  the  Meyer 
family,  to  indicate  the  truth  of  the  Master's  saying,  "  Whoso- 
ever does  it  unto  the  least  of  my  disciples  does  it  unto  me." 
It  is  mentioned,  on  the  other  hand,  that  this  idea  is  incom- 
patible with  the  religious  views  of  Holbein's  time,  and  that 
no  painter  would  have  dared  to  insult  the  seated  veneration 
of  the  day  by  putting  any  common  mortal  in  the  place  of 
Jesus  in  the  Madonna's  bosom.  It  seems  to  me  that  there 
are  other  objections  to  this  hypothesis.  The  attitude  and 
expression  of  the  healthy  child  has  nothing  spiritual  in  it. 
His  face  is  rude  and  his  arm  outstretched  in  an  unmeaning 
manner.  Indeed,  his  figure  and  that  of  the  boy  behind  him 
are  both  unsatisfactory,  and  form  the  only  blemish  in  this 
magnificent  picture.  The  expression,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
the  Christ-child  is,  in  spite  of  the  sickly  aspect,  intensely  in- 
dividual and  spiritual ;  and  evidently  the  real  fact  is  that  Hol- 
bein intended  to  represent  the  illness  of  the  child,  who,  by 
supposition,  is  brought  to  be  healed,  as  having  been  assumed 
by  Jesus,  according  to  the  saying,  "  He  bore  our  sicknesses." 
This  idea,  though  doubtless  refined  beyond  the  time,  is 
worthy  of  and  not  beyond  Holbein's  genius.  He  has  made 
the  health  he  transfers  to  the  restored  child  bear  too  little 
trace  of  the  source  whence  it  came ;  but  it  is  radiant  health. 
The  face  of  the  Virgin  is  transcendently  fine,  considering  its 
Flemish  origin.  It  is  too  old  and  too  queenly,  and  the  figure 
lacks  all  the  celestial  drapery  of  blue  that  we  so  naturally  as- 
sociate with  the  Madonna — but  it  is  full  of  meaning,  and  is 
wonderfully  refreshing  after  the  unideal  softness  in  which  the 
mother  of  our  Lord  is  usually  painted.     The  color  is  superb. 

R  2 


394  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

Was  ever  a  detail  more  exquisitely  rendered  than  the  fold  in 
the  carpet  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture  ?  Screta's  portraits 
of  the  Evangelists  and  Saints  are  full  of  solid  merit.  Pass- 
ing by  Roos,  special  attention  is  due  to  the  rare  collection  of 
Denner's  portraits,  which,  for  photographic  rendering  of  the 
human  visage,  have  never  been  equaled.  Angelica  Kauf- 
man has  three  delicate  works  here,  specially  interesting  to 
lovers  of  woman's  genius.  There  is  also  an  interesting  col- 
lection of  works  of  contemporary  German  artists. 

The  two  alcoves  devoted  to  pastels  are  unequaled  in  this 
class,  which  is  too  monotonous  to  interest  any  one  very  long. 
Raphael  Mengs  and  Carriera  are  the  chief  artists  in  this  line, 
although  the  most  celebrated  pictures  are  from  Liotard,  the 
painter  of  the  famous  "  Vienna  Chocolate  Girl."  I  must  con- 
fess that  copies  in  oil  of  this  picture,  with  which  I  was  fa- 
miliar, made  the  original  in  pastel  quite  disappointing.  It 
seemed  weak  in  color.  Dietrick,  the  King's  painter  for 
thirty  years,  has  filled  the  lower  gallery  with  above  fifty  pict- 
ures, exhibiting  a  great  versatility  and  a  skillful  and  learned 
acquaintance  with  his  art ;  but  after  all,  no  heart-piercing 
thrust  in  any  one  direction  amid  his  many  fair  pushes  in  all 
quarters. 

Canaletto  is  nowhere  probably  to  be  seen  in  such  abun- 
dance and  perfection  as  here,  where  more  than  thirty  of  his 
largest-sized  pictures  are  found.  His  architectural  rendering 
is  certainly  wonderful,  and  may  easily  be  verified  by  his  pict- 
ures of  old  Dresden,  which  might  serve  almost  as  a  guide- 
book, so  true  and  so  expressive  are  they  of  buildings  and 
streets  still  standing,  almost  wholly  unchanged,  in  the  old  and 
the  new  town — the  difference,  as  my  guide  humorously  said, 
between  new  and  old  Dresden  being  that  one  was  built  in 
the  ninth  century  and  the  other  in  the  tenth !  Ruskin  says, 
in  effect,  that  Canaletto,  spite  of  his  cognomen,  did  not  know 


The  Madon7ia  Sixtus.  395 

how  to  paint  canals,  and  that  his  water  is  not  worthy  of  the 
name,  and  would  not  be  known  as  water  if  it  were  not  in  the 
place  where  water  is  usually  found.  His  reflections  are  ad- 
mirably managed,  but  I  must  say  that  I  do  not  differ  from 
Ruskin  in  thinking  his  reputation  as  a  water-painter  very  ex- 
travagant. 

The  Madonna  of  Raphael  (known  as  the  Madonna  Six- 
tus) is  so  exalted  in  the  world's  praise  that  it  is  impossible 
to  look  at  it  with  fresh  and  independent  eyes.  Probably  it 
has  been  more  admired  than  any  picture  in  the  world,  and  I 
doubt  not  the  admiration  has  usually  been  genuine.  It  takes 
no  culture  and  no  taste  to  love  and  enjoy  this  picture.  A 
beautiful  woman,  serious  and  modest,  holding  a  preternatu- 
rally  lovely  and  spiritual  child  in  her  arms — with  a  saintly- 
looking  old  man  gazing  up  into  her  face  on  one  side,  bal- 
anced by  an  exquisitely  fair  and  holy  girl  looking  down,  op- 
pressed by  such  sacred  beauty,  on  the  other  side  ;  with  two 
cherubs,  just  dropped  from  heaven,  resting  on  the  lower  edge 
of  the  picture — with  the  celestial  halo  tangled  in  their  hair 
and  beaming  from  their  upturned  eyes  —  why  every  body 
must  see  and  praise  and  bless  such  a  picture,  independent 
of  any  fame  in  its  author,  or  any  religious  feeling  on  the  sub- 
ject! It  appeals  to  natural  piety,  to  domestic  affection,  to 
veneration  for  age,  to  love  of  beauty  and  to  reverence  for 
maidenly  purity  and  cherubic  infancy.  How  far  Raphael  has 
really  conceived  truly  the  Madonna,  how  far  her  innocent, 
gentle,  serious  face,  without  much  past  or  much  future  in  its 
look,  expresses  the  Mary  who  had  carried  so  many  troubled 
thoughts  in  her  breast,  and  who  was  the  mother  of  such  a 
glorious  Son,  may  be  well  questioned;  That  the  child  is 
more  successful  than  the  mother,  considered  from  the  point 
of  character,  is,  I  think,  sure.  Certainly  I  had  no  disap- 
pointment in  this  picture,  for  I  knew  just  what  to  expect,  and 


396  The  Old  World  i?i  its  New  Face. 

I  disagree  with  those  who  think  that  very  perfect  copies  of  it 
do  not  exist.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  one  of  the  easiest  of 
all  great  pictures  to  render  either  by  engraving  or  by  color. 

It  is  very  different  in  this  respect  from  Titian's  "  Christ 
Taking  the  Money" — to  me  far  the  richest  and  most  valuable 
picture  in  this  Gallery,  and  the  only  one  I  greatly  coveted  for 
my  own.  A  very  skillful  copy  from  a  capital  artist  on  the 
opposite  wall  shows  the  hopelessness  of  transferring  the  sub- 
tle power  of  this  great  inspiration  of  Titian.  The  weight  and 
majesty  of  the  head  of  Christ,  which  positively  communicates 
a  feeling  as  if  the  contents  of  that  solid  brain  were  pressing 
upon  your  hand  ;  the  intellectual  dignity,  combined  with  the 
utmost  moral  and  spiritual  elevation ;  the  exquisite  refine- 
ment of  self-contained  sorrow  in  the  mouth  ;  the  holy  sadness, 
free  from  the  least  tinge  of  sentimentality,  in  the  eyes ;  the 
unfeigned  seriousness,  as  if  smiles  were  no  longer  any  expres- 
sion of  the  joy  of  that  deep  heart ;  the  hair,  not  conspicuous- 
ly parted,  and  yet  thin  and  long,  and  almost  as  if  each  hair 
were  instinct  with  life  ;  the  brow,  wide,  full,  but  not  the  schol- 
ar's or  the  artist's  brow,  and  not  the  saint's  either,  but  a  brow 
perfectly  human  and  perfectly  sound  and  pure  ;  and  the  hand, 
extending  its  back  with  two  fingers  open  to  take  the  money, 
so  inimitably  expressive  of  a  natural  distaste  for  details,  and 
specially  for  money ;  and  a  rapt  and  absorbed  nature  !  The 
contrast  of  the  two  faces  is  not  more  effective  than  the  con- 
trast of  the  two  hands,  which  are  exact  symbols — the  one, 
with  its  upward  clutch  and  dark,  knotty  fist,  of  the  spirit  of 
the  world ;  the  other,  with  its  open  and  back-exposed  form, 
with  no  tension  to  its  muscles,  and  so  fair  and  pure,  of  the 
spirit  of  Him  who  came  asking  nothing  and  receiving  only 
stripes. 

Correggio's  Madonna,  so  celebrated,  is  not  interesting  to 
me.    It  is  evidently  only  a  study,  although  exquisitely  finished. 


Collectio7i  of  Armor.  397 

His  pictures  fail  in  spirituality,  and  that  celebrated  diffusion 
of  light  in  the  "  Notte  "  does  not  equal  my  expectations  of  it. 

The  elegance  and  refinement  of  Giordano  has  given  me 
unfeigned  pleasure.  One  picture  of  his,  the  meeting  of  Ra- 
chel and  Jacob,  is  delightful. 

The  gallery  of  engravings  and  original  sketches  offers 
great  attractions  to  students.  The  accessibleness  and  the 
warmth  and  hospitable  fittings  of  the  Gallery  distinguish  it 
from  most  others.  It  furnishes  alone  a  sufficient  reason  for 
making  Dresden  a  residence  for  one  season  at  least. 

The  sculptures  in  the  Japanese  Palace  are  meritorious,  and 
beautifully  arranged ;  but  the  winter  cold,  not  abated  by  any 
fires,  makes  this  a  poor  season  to  visit  this  gallery. 

The  collection  of  armor  in  the  Zwinger  is,  perhaps,  the 
largest  and  finest  anywhere  to  be  found.  A  perfect  regiment 
of  wooden  horses  in  armor,  mounted  by  knights  in  every  con- 
ceivable panoply  of  mail,  are  stalled  in  this  endless  gallery. 
Those  who  would  understand  the  whole  military  equipment 
of  the  ages  before  gunpowder  and  cannon  changed  the  whole 
character  of  war,  have  here  their  best  opportunity.  What 
human  muscles  were  then,  these  ponderous  suits  of  steel  ar- 
mor attest.  One  sees  knights  incrusted  with  such  a  weight 
of  mail  that  to  be  unhorsed  was  certain  death,  by  mere  force 
of  the  short  fall  from  their  saddles  to  the  ground,  and  yet  the 
tremendous  heaviness  of  the  lances  they  bore  was  necessary 
to  lift  such  a  ballast  as  they  carried  from  their  seats.  The 
exquisite  finish  and  costliness  of  some  of  the  few  more  pre- 
cious suits  of  armor  found  here,  wrought  by  great  artists  in 
silver  and  gold,  inlaid  in  steel,  must  be  seen  to  be  credited. 
The  endless  amount  of  guns  and  pistols,  decorated  like  im- 
perial playthings,  to  be  seen  in  this  gallery,  overpowers  one 
with  the  sense  of  the  wasted  labor  of  past  ages.  The  state 
of  society  when  such  multiplication  of  merely  ostentatious  in- 


398  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

dustry  was  possible,  it  is  hard  to  realize  in  our  utilitarian 
days.  A  sample  of  a  revolver,  more  than  two  hundred  years 
old,  proves  that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun. 

The  life  of  Dresden  is  very  attractive  to  English  and  Amer- 
icans, and  there  is  commonly  a  permanent  population  of  many 
hundreds  of  both  in  the  city.  There  is  one  part  of  the  town 
known  as  the  English  and  American  quarter,  and  it  is  the 
pleasantest  part  of  the  city.  These  two  nationalities  fraternize 
very  amiably.  They  unite  in  supporting  the  two  English 
chapels — one  very  high,  the  other  very  low.  There  is  no  un- 
Episcopal  service  here  in  the  English  language,  a  deficiency 
very  much  deplored  by  those  who  love  the  simple  forms  of 
Protestantism.  It  seems  strange  that  Dresden,  so  much  more 
visited  than  Berlin  by  Americans,  should  be  without  an  Amer- 
ican chapel.  By  request  of  the  active  and  popular  American 
Consul,  Mr.  Campbell,  who  engaged  the  pleasant  saloon  in  the 
Hotel  de  Pologne  for  the  purpose,  I  preached  yesterday  to  a 
congregation  of  two  hundred  Americans,  gathered  at  short  no- 
tice, and  without  the  least  drumming  together.  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  a  dozen  of  present  or  former  parishioners 
in  the  assembly,  and  found  as  congenial  a  company  of  worship- 
ers as  I  could  desire  to  meet.  As  a  sample  of  American 
enterprise  and  German  facilities,  I  may  state  that  the  hymns, 
with  the  music  to  which  they  were  sung,  were  struck  off  on  a 
sheet  of  paper,  and  circulated  through  the  hall,  on  a  notice 
of  only  a  few  hours,  and  at  a  cost  of  only  a  few  shillings. 
And  this  is  a  sample  of  the  finish  which  belongs  to  the  civil- 
ization of  these  old  countries — where  a  dense  population  on 
an  old  territory  compels  an  immense  subdivision  of  labor 
and  favors,  nicety  and  cheapness  in  most  things.  Every  thing 
not  inspired  by  American  enterprise  is  slow,  but  every  thing 
that  is  done  at  all  is  well  done,  and  things  are  done  that 
could  not  be  thought  of  in  a  country  where  time  and  labor 


Simplicity  in  Living.  399 

are  so  valuable  as  in  our  own  land.  Housekeeping  is  ren- 
dered very  easy  where  there  are  hundreds  of  experts  waiting 
to  do  every  thing  for  you  at  most  moderate  rates.  The  cheap- 
ness of  servants  and  of  labor  frees  the  women  of  every  social 
rank  —  corresponding  to  persons  having  a  competency  at 
home — from  personal  labor  and  housekeeping  drudgery. 

German  ladies  have  abundant  time  here  to  share  their  hus- 
bands' occupations  and  pleasures.  They  direct  the  house- 
keeping and  keep  the  accounts,  but  they  do  not  cut  and  sew 
and  make  their  own  dresses,  as  so  many  women  of  twice 
their  means  would  do  at  home.  They  knit  and  crochet,  and 
that  is  about  all.  It  is  so  cheap  and  so  easy  to  get  clothes 
made — that  is,  in  the  moderate  st^'le  which  with  excellent 
sense  they  prefer — that  it  would  be  wasteful  of  opportunity, 
not  to  say  unjust  to  the  industrial  class,  not  to  employ 
them.  They  are  poorly  paid,  but  they  know  how  to  live  com- 
fortably on  very  little.  There  is  no  undue  magnification  of 
money  above  comfort,  enjoyment,  society  and  art ;  no  impa- 
tient haste  to  get  rich,  and  no  grasping  desire  to  exceed  a 
fair  competency.  Merchants  will  not  strain  themselves  be- 
yond their  safe  and  tranquil  enjoyment  of  life  to  add  to  a 
moderate  sufficiency  if  they  possess  it.  They  seem  to  throw 
away  opportunities  which  Americans  would  account  it  mad- 
ness to  neglect,  and  this  is  explained  by  the  worthlessness  of 
money,  beyond  a  fair  competency,  in  a  country'  based  upon 
aristocratic  ideas — where  wealth  secures  no  real  importance 
and  no  social  standing  of  itself  alone.  Genius  is  the  only 
thing  that  conquers  the  settled  obduracy  of  rank  and  title 
here.  There  is  accordingly,  amid  great  and  sober  industry, 
no  enterprise. 

Dresden  is  poorly  drained  and  lighted ;  her  public  vehicles 
are  shabby  and  rickety ;  her  mechanics,  thorough  and  excel- 
lent, are  slow,  and  provoke  great  impatience.     They  can  not 


400  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

be  driven,  and  have  no  conception  of  what  we  call  hurry. 
And  the  life  of  the  people  is  all  slow.  They  are  quiet,  tame, 
unexcited,  decorous  people — with  a  great  deal  of  inward  cult- 
ure and  refinement — who  live  on  music  and  in  public  gardens, 
and  in  mild  conversation,  and  seem  never  in  haste,  or  under 
any  passionate  impulses.  A  lady,  living  on  a  public  square, 
says  that  even  the  children  in  the  streets  don't  run  and  quarrel 
or  play  boisterous  games.  I  breakfasted  the  other  day,  at 
12  o'clock,  at  Mr.  J.  M.  Drake's,  one  of  my  parishioners  now 
livang  in  Dresden,  with  a  delightful  company  of  gentlemen, 
among  whom  were  Herr  Von  Weber,  Privy  Counselor  of  his 
Majesty,  and  son  of  the  great  composer,  whose  genius  he 
inherits  in  the  form  of  mathematics  and  engineering ;  Dr. 
Hirschel,  a  distinguished  ph3'sician ;  Dr.  Hellwig,  chief  of  an 
important  school ;  Herr  Lauterbach,  the  first  violinist  of  Sax- 
ony, and  second  in  authority  in  the  Royal  Opera  ;  Mr.  Thodg, 
the  well-known  banker ;  Mr.  Campbell,  our  Consul ;  Dr. 
Humphreys  and  Mr.  James  Kent,  American  gentlemen.  The 
charm  of  the  occasion  was  the  perfectly  unpreoccupied  air  of 
these  men,  who,  in  our  country,  would  each  at  that  time  of 
day  have  been  so  inwardly  vexed  and  haunted  with  their  per- 
sonal responsibilities  that  they  could  not  have  given  more 
than  half  their  interest  to  the  occasion.  Another  character- 
istic was  the  utter  disappearance  of  their  respective  specialties 
in  their  common  humanity  and  general  culture.  The  mer- 
chant was  a  musician,  the  musician  a  scholar,  the  man  of 
public  affairs  a  social  philosopher,  the  men  of  special  pur- 
suits men  also  of  general  interests,  and  all,  busy  as  they 
would  have  called  themselves,  were  men  of  leisure,  who  could 
sit  three  hours  in  the  very  heart  of  a  short  November  day 
and  talk  delightfully,  and  as  if  time  had  no  better  use,  about 
all  matters  of  human  concernment — ethics,  art,  music,  statis- 
tics, American  and  European  life,  religion,  politics. 


Punctuality  and  Coobiess.  401 

The  amusements  (it  is  too  light  a  word  to  describe  so  seri- 
ous an  occupation  of  Continental  life)  are  of  the  best  quality. 
The  opera  is  superlatively  fine,  as  to  orchestra,  scenery  and 
chorus.  All  the  persons  connected  with  the  institution  of 
the  Royal  Theatre  and  Opera  (one  establishment)  are  gov- 
ernment officials,  engaged,  on  good  behavior,  for  life,  on  small 
but  comfortable  salaries.  This  gives  not  only  a  domestic  and 
fixed  character  to  the  players,  singers  and  musicians,  but 
also,  by  keeping  them  steadily  together,  secures  an  excellence, 
finish  and  unity  in  the  musical  performances,  operas  and 
plays  of  the  rarest  sort.  The  moral  worth  and  personal 
standing  of  these  artists  is  apparently  as  good  as  that  of 
other  citizens  of  their  own  grade.  They  look  wholly  unlike 
the  meretricious,  dissipated,  smirking  creatures  you  see  so 
often  on  the  French,  English  and  American  stage.  Indeed, 
a  German  orchestra  looks  like  a  set  of  savans  or  ministers 
of  religion,  who  have  agreed  to  exhibit  their  virtuoso  quality 
for  a  single  evening.  The  soloists  are  not  Italian  in  voice  or 
in  passionate  abandon^  but  they  are  always  thoroughly  up  in 
their  parts,  and  thoroughly  competent,  so  that  they  do  not 
mar  if  they  do  not  exalt  the  performance.  The  precision, 
serious  attention  to  all  details,  and  inability  to  be  put  out  of 
time,  are  all  marked.  Every  thing  proceeds  with  oily  smooth- 
ness, without  hitch,  and  without  painful  intervals  and  delays. 
The  opera  begins  at  6|-  o'clock  and  is  out  commonly  at  9, 
and  you  might  set  your  watch  by  the  beginning  and  ending 
of  the  acts,  the  time  of  which  is  often  published  in  the  bills 
of  the  night.  The  sudden  explosion  of  a  gas-chandelier  the 
other  niorht  did  not  cause  the  orchestra  to  lose  a  note,  and 
the  accident  was  deliberately  remedied  without  a  person  in 
the  house  leaving  his  seat,  or  without  a  moment's  interruption 
of  the  performance  !  This  is  German  phlegm  with  a  ven- 
geance. 


402  The  Old  World  i?i  its  New  Face. 

Dresden  is  full  of  beer  and  music  saloons  and  gardens, 
where  men  carry  their  pipes  (and  ladies  their  knitting),  and 
with  mild  but  long  potations,  sit  out  excellent  concerts  of 
four  hours'  duration,  at  a  cost  of  sixpence  a  head.  The  Ba- 
varian, it  is  said,  can  enjoy  beer  without  music  ;  the  Saxon, 
beer  with  music ;  the  Parisian,  music  without  beer.  The 
domestic  and  sociable  character  of  these  beer  concerts  is 
something  indescribable.  But  it  characterizes  German  life, 
and  is  really  a  substantial  part  of  their  existence. 

Living  is  comparatively  cheap  and  excellent  in  Dresden, 
although  Americans  are  said  to  have  greatly  raised  its  price 
of  late  years.  New  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of 
strangers  are  always  going  up.  Rent,  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  rooms,  the  story,  and  the  position,  is  for  an  etage  or 
set  of  apartments  (all  on  one  floor),  from  50  to  175  thalers 
(80  cents  each  in  gold)  per  month.  A  lady  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, with  three  servants  and  three  children,  occupies  furnish- 
ed apartments  with  seven  rooms,  at  67  thalers  per  month. 
They  are  excellent,  well-furnished,  well-situated  ;  good  as  I 
should  desire.  Servants  of  excellent  quality  may  be  had  at 
an  average  of  five  thalers  per  month.  Food  for  this  family  and 
servants,  of  excellent  and  abundant  quality,  about  six  thalers 
per  day.  Dress  is  about  a  third  less  costly  here.  The  en- 
virons of  Dresden  are  charming ;  the  climate  dark,  sunless 
and  rainy  in  winter ;  and  not  very  inviting  in  spring ;  never 
very  cold  ;  most  agreeable  in  summer ;  usually  very  healthy 
— changes,  especially  from  rainy  and  cloudy  to  sunshiny— 
never  too  sudden!  In  most  respects  a  very  attractive  place, 
and  made  sO  attractive  to  me  by  dear  and  numerous  friends 
that  I  could  willingly  pass  the  whole  winter  here.  But  we 
are  off  to-morrow,  after  ten  days  of  inward  sunshine  and  out- 
ward storm,  for  Prague  and  Vienna. 


XXXII. 


DRESDEN    AND    PRAGUE. 


November  6,  1867. 

TN  company  with  some  charming  friends,  we  visited  to-day 
the  famous  Dresden  china  works  at  Meissen.  The  cele- 
brated collection  of  china  from  all  parts  of  the  world  in  the 
Japanese  Palace,  in  the  new  town  of  Dresden,  had  excited 
our  lively  interest  concerning  the  processes  of  manufacture. 
That  collection  contains  90,000  pieces,  and  has  been  gath- 
ered by  an  industrious  passion  for  old  china,  reaching  back 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years.  It  is  unique,  I  suppose,  in  its 
character  and  extent.  Amid  an  immense  quantity  of  bizarre 
and  tasteless  monstrosities,  there  is  a  very  large  amount  of 
graceful  and  elegant  form  and  of  lovely  color  in  the  smaller 
articles,  especially  in  cups  and  bowls  and  platters.  It  is  rath- 
er mortifying  to  find  semi-barbarous  nations  excelling  all  civ- 
ilized people  in  such  a  delicate  art — for  I  suppose  that  neither 
Sevres  nor  Dresden  has  yet  made  any  china  as  light  and 
strong,  and  at  the  same  time  as  transparent,  as  some  of 
the  best  made  hundreds  of  years  ago  in  China  itself;  nor 
are  any  of  the  modern  colors  as  delicate  and  lustrous  as 
some  of  theirs.  Their  yellows  seemed  specially  tender 
and  precious.  The  collection  is  kept  in  a  cold,  dark  base- 
ment or  half-cellar,  where,  contending  with  a  freezing  twi- 
light, one  is  hurried  through  it  by  a  showman  who  means  to 
earn  his  extravagant  fee  of  two  thalers  in  as  short  a  time  as 
possible. 


404  '-I'fie  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

At  the  works  at  Meissen  a  different  system  prevails,  a  skill- 
ful workman,  speaking  English,  being  detailed  to  exhibit  the 
processes  of  the  manufacture  in  the  most  patient  manner,  and 
really  executing   his  task  admirably.     Meissen   is  a  dozen 
miles  up  the  Elbe,  and  is  reached  by  rail  in  three-quarters  of 
an  hour.     It  is  a  picturesque  old  place,  and  worth  seeing  on 
its  own  account.     The  works,  which  belong  to  the  govern- 
ment, were  only  a  few  years  back  moved  to  this  eligible  spot. 
The  clay  to  which  the  Dresden  china  owes  its  excellence  is 
found  in  at  least  a  dozen  mines  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood in  inexhaustible  abundance.     It  is  composed  of  a  de- 
graded or  rotten  feldspar,  and  is  nearly  white  in  its  native 
state.     It  requires  only  to  be  washed  and  then  worked,  very 
much  as  dough  is  kneaded,  for  a  half-hour,  to  be  ready  for 
use.     It  contains  veins  of  a  greyish  color,  and  also  air-cells, 
which  are  worked  out  of  it  by  a  process  of  kneading  in  which 
the  persistent  cutting  of  the  mass  in  two  and  packing  it  as 
dough  is  packed  to  secure  shortness,  effects  at  last  a  homo- 
geneous  color   and   texture.     This   clay   is   fashioned   into 
ordinary  vessels,  bowls,  plates,  etc.,  by  the   potter's   wheel. 
The  more  complex  figures  and  shapes  are  made  in  moulds  of 
plaster  of  Paris,  the  reverse  of  models  formed  in  common  clay, 
by  the  most  skillful  artisans.     The  number  of  these  moulds  is 
enormous.     In  moving  them  to  the  new  establishment  they 
were  found  to  weigh  some  thousands  of  tons. 

It  may  surprise  those  who  have  noticed  the  seamless  unity 
of  china  figures,  or  biscuit,  to  learn  that  even  the  smallest  fig- 
ures' are  cast  in  many  parts,  and  that  sometimes  every  finger 
and  thumb  requires  a  different  mould.  The  putting  together 
of  these  parts  in  groups  of  biscuit  requires  a  truly  artistic 
knowledge  and  skill,  and  this  is  secured  by  a  regular  school 
of  drawing  and  anatomy,  through  which  the  workmen  are 
compelled  to  pass.     The  joints  of  the  several  parts  are  not 


Dresden  China. 


405 


made  until  the  parts  have  had  their  first  baking.  The  parts 
come  from  the  moulds  in  a  very  unfinished  state,  requiring 
minute  handling  with  the  chisel  before  they  are  fit  for  baking. 
The  baking  is  done  in  a  hollow  oven,  round  which  five  fur- 
naces of  coals  (hard  and  soft)  are  burning.  Each  plate  or 
article  is  put  into  a  separate  vessel  (covered)  of  coarse  fire- 
clay, and  these  fire-clay  vessels  are  then  arranged  in  tiers 
upon  each  other  in  the  large  oven.  A  batch  may  contain 
perhaps  a  thousand  vessels.  The  oven  is  kept  at  a  tem- 
perature of  2004°  Reaumer,  for  twenty-four  hours,  when  it 
is  allowed  to  cool  slowly  for  three  days.  It  is  hermetically 
sealed  meanwhile.  The  greatest  delicacy  is  required  in  the 
arrangement  of  this  baking  process.  When  most  prudently 
conducted,  at  least  one-sixth  of  the  batch  in  the  oven  will  be 
ruined  by  some  unevenness  or  excess  in  the  heat.  The  clay, 
either  of  the  fire-brick  holder  or  of  the  vessel  inside,  breaks 
down  under  too  severe  a  temperature.  It  is  the  boast  of  the 
Dresden  over  the  Sevres  china  that  the  Dresden  clay  bears  a 
heat  400°  greater  than  the  Sevres  clay,  and  this  secures  a 
harder  and  firmer  china.  Yet  it  is  confessed  that  the  Dres- 
den china  is  not  so  light  as  the  Sevres.  There  is  no  essen- 
tial difference  in  other  respects  ;  the  external  finish  or  paint- 
ing depending  on  the  excellence  of  the  individual  artists,  who 
are  of  course  variable.  The  first  baking  produces  only  a 
very  brittle  substance,  hardly  stronger  than  chalk.  The  once- 
baked  vessels  are  then  dipped  into  a  vitreous  bath  composed 
of  feldspar,  mica  and  pounded  glass,  and  absorb  at  one  plunge 
the  necessary  amount  of  flux  partially  to  vitrify  their  sub- 
stance, and,  upon  being  subjected  to  a  second  baking,  to 
cover  their  surface  with  that  peculiar  enamel  which  is  the 
beauty  and  characteristic  of  china.  Before  this  enamel  is 
applied,  vessels  which  are  destined  to  be  painted  and  decor- 
ated are  put  into  the  hands  of  the  artists,  who,  with  the  ordi- 


4o6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

nary  paint-brush,  and  in  metallic  paints,  picture  the  flowers, 
or  arabesques  or  other  ornaments  of  the  pattern. 

In  the  more  common  sorts  of  vessels  they  paint  without 
pattern.     In  other  cases  the  pattern  is  pricked  in  paper,  and 
then  transferred  to  the  plate  by  rubbing  charcoal  over  it ;  it 
is  then  filled  in  with  the  colors  of  the  pattern.     The  colors 
are  so  changed  in  burning  that  it  requires  a  very  experienced 
knowledge  to  apply  the  proper  shade  to  the  unburnt  surface. 
A  dullish  grey  comes  out  a  bright  blue,  perhaps,  and  so  on. 
The  gilding  so  common  on  china  is  a  precipitate  of  pure 
gold,  which  looks  more  like  made  chocolate  than  any  thing 
else,  and  is  applied  with  a  brush.      The  fire  gives  it  only  a 
dull  brown  aspect.     The  brilliancy  is  obtained  by  burnishing 
the   surface  with  small   tools  of  agate.      Great  delicacy  in 
handling  the  finer  points  and  edges  of  the  china  in  this  bur- 
nishing process,  is  required.     It  is  done  by  women.     In  case 
of  many  colors,  four  or  five  burnings  may  be  required,  as 
some  colors  bear  only  a  less  heat.     We  saw  plates  valued  at 
$50  each,  arid  one  set  of  twenty-four,  in  process,  which  had 
been  ordered  at  $1200!      The  demand  seemed  greater  for 
the  more  expensive  kinds  of  work.     About  a  quarter  of  the 
finest  work  is  spoiled  in  baking.     All  the  china  shrinks  at 
least  one-third  in  the  oven,  and  this  shrinkage  is  likely  to  be 
just  unequal  enough  to  injure  delicate  proportion.     This  is 
perhaps  the  reason  why  accuracy  of  expression  in  copies  of 
pictures  can  not  be  secured,  and  proves  the  unfitness  of  china 
to  any  real  place  among  the  fine  arts.     The  work  of  the  art- 
ists is  always  better  on  the  unburnt  surface.     A  truly-drawn 
eye  may  come  out  askew.     The  lustre  of  the  burnt  colors  is 
very  splendid,  and  the  general  effect  of  the  Dresden  china  is 
certainly  exceedingly  elegant.     After  considering  the  number 
and  delicacy  of  the  processes,  the  amount  of  personal  skill 
and  individual  handling  to  which  every  vessel  is  subjected, 


Magmficent  Trifles.  407 

the  length  of  training  to  which  artists  must  submit,  and  the 
great  risk  and  certain  loss  which  attends  the  process  of  man- 
ufacture, Dresden  china  rises  in  one's  estimation  as  a  manu- 
facture, and  can  not  be  considered  dear  for  those  who  can 
afford  it  at  the  current  prices.  The  manufacture  is  profitable 
in  good  years — having  earned  $25,000  last  year  for  the  Royal 
Treasury,  and  expecting  to  do  more  this  year.  Coals  are 
cheap,  coming  only  fifteen  miles,  and  worth  only  twelve  cents 
a  bushel.     They  use  about  160  bushels  in  one  baking. 

The  greejt  vaults  at  Dresden  I  had  almost  forgotten  to 
speak  of  They  are  so  called  merely  because,  being  original- 
ly a  suite  of  rooms  opening  upon  the  royal  garden,  they  were 
painted  green  in  hannony  with  the  verdure  they  looked  out 
upon.  They  contain  a  fabulous  amount  of  objects  of  virtu, 
royal  presents  and  works  of  ingenious  artisans — vases,  jew- 
eled tankards,  sets  of  plate,  and  china  and  glass,  and  table 
toys  wrought  with  lavish  and  inconceivable  toil  and  cost,  to 
tickle  the  jaded  taste  and  spoiled  fancy  of  royal  weariness 
and  indolence.  The  Kings'  goldsmiths,  under  different 
reigns,  have  vied  with  each  other  in  producing  all  but  impos- 
sible trinkets  and  representations,  in  minute  model,  of  Orient- 
al courts,  in  which  gold  and  jewels,  sometimes  to  the  amount 
of  a  half-million  of  cost,  have  been  expended  on  a  single  toy 
fit  only  for  a  baby-house.  A  necklace  of  diamonds,  valued 
at  $750,000,  is  among  the  curiosities  of  this  collection,  and  a 
single  green  diamond  worth  a  half -million  more.  A  class  of 
drinking-cups  in  the  shape  of  griffins  and  fabulous  animals, 
which,  from  the  difficulty  of  drinking  from  them  without  spill- 
ing, were  called  "  teasing-cups,"  is  shown,  with  which  the 
guests  at  royal  tables  amused  themselves  after  dinner,  under 
some  penalty  for  any  awkwardness  in  their  use.  It  is  a  wea- 
risome show,  and  provokes  almost  an  angry  disdain  from  its 
wasteful  and  tasteless  magnificence.     This  collection  belongs 


4o8  The  Old  World  in  its  Neiv  Face. 

now  not  to  the  crown  but  the  country,  and  it  can  not,  by  a 
compact  with  its  old  owners,  be  sold.  It  is  hard  to  think 
how  small  a  part  of  its  cost  it  would  now  bring  in  any  auction 
shop !  The  King  of  Saxony,  whom  we  saw  devoutly  attend- 
ing mass,  and  almost  as  seriously  listening  to  the  opera,  is  a 
grey-haired,  thin-featured  old  gentleman,  looking  very  tired 
of  his  life,  and  as  if  he  would  greatly  enjoy  being  only  a  pri- 
vate gentleman.  He  has  literary  tastes,  and  has  translated 
Dante. 

The  railroad  from  Dresden  to  Prague  follows  the  valley 
of  the  Elbe,  and  runs  through  what  is  called  Saxon  Switzer- 
land, a  wild  and  singular  country,  in  which  the  effect  of  very 
picturesque  mountain  scenery  is  produced  at  the  smallest 
possible  expenditure  of  means.  Given,  heights  not  to  exceed 
1 2  GO  feet,  and  rocks  within  this  compass,  ad  libitum,  with 
forests  of  a  few  miles  square,  and  a  muddy  river  of  shallow 
depth — the  problem  being  to  produce  a  country  in  which 
violent  contrasts  of  hill  and  plain,  precipice  and  meadow, 
contorted  strata  and  irregular  sky-line  should  create  in  the 
beholder  sensations  not  unlike  those  of  the  Alpine  world,  and 
the  result  could  not  be  more  successful  than  it  is  found  in  this 
surprising  and  effective  Liliputian  Switzerland.  A  kind  of 
inland  Giant's  Causeway  is  presented  in  the  architectural 
structure  of  the  rocks.  Sometimes  Egyptian  temples  seem 
to  have  strayed  into  this  region,  so  artificial  and  so  Sphinx- 
like are  the  forms  of  the  stones  piled  in  monstrous  order,  and 
with  great  faces  and  heads  jutting  out  over  their  square  shoul- 
ders. Three  or  four  isolated  masses  rising  abruptly  and  with 
sharp  sides  a  thousand  feet  high,  and  not  much  broader  than 
high,  offer  commanding  points  of  view,  and  form  bold  and 
sublime  features  in  the  landscape.  On  one  of  these  the  only 
fortress  belonging  to  Saxony  is  placed,  at  a  height  so  inac- 
cessible that  it  has  never  been  taken.     Not  unlike  Ehren- 


Prague.  409 

breitstein,  it  has  the  advantage  of  adding  to  the  steep  rocky 
mountain  height  of  that  great  fastness  a  crown  of  noble 
woods  (not  visible  from  below)  which  gives  an  extraordinary 
beauty  to  the  aerial  loftiness  of  this  commanding  castle. 
There  is  room  for  thousands  of  men  within  the  half-mile  cir- 
cuit of  its  walls.  A  beautiful  stone  terrace  upon  the  case- 
mates furnishes  a  walk  from  which  all  Saxon  Switzerland 
may  be  viewed.  A  well,  625  feet  deep,  sunk  in  the  solid 
rock,  at  least  a  dozen  feet  in  diameter,  is  said  to  have  cost 
years  of  drilling  to  sink  it.  Seventeen  seconds  we  held  our 
breath  to  hear  water  poured  from  the  top  strike  the  water  at 
the  bottom.  Candles  let  down  by  a  windlass,  revolving  as 
they  descended,  presented  an  image  of  falling  stars,  more 
striking  than  any  I  ever  watched  in  the  sky.  It  seemed  al- 
most as  far  to  the  place  where  they  sunk  at  last  as  to  the 
zenith  of  the  sky  above.  The  contents  of  the  green  vaults 
and  the  archives  of  Saxony  have  often  found  protection  in 
this  stronghold  of  Konigsberg. 

Prague,  Bohemia,  November  14. 

It  is  a  charming  journey  from  Dresden  to  Prague,  in  con- 
stant view  of  the  Elbe,  until  the  Moldau  is  reached,  a  few 
miles  from  the  old  capital  of  this  once  independent  kingdom. 
Bohemia  is  a  kind  of  bowl,  on  all  sides  surrounded  by  mount- 
ains, while  its  own  surface  is  comparatively  smooth.  Prague 
is  nearly  at  its  centre,  and  is  itself  a  copy  of  the  kingdom, 
being  situated  in  the  middle  of  a  saucer  of  hills,  up  which  the 
smaller  and  more  interesting  part  of  the  city  runs.  Divided 
by  the  Moldau,  a  stream  of  shallow  depth,  but  of  dignified 
width,  and  to  be  seen  from  numerous  points,  Prague  unites 
all  the  effects  of  hills  and  water,  of  bridges  and  towers,  pin- 
nacles and  domes,  to  which  must  be  added  a  middle-age  arch- 
itecture as  well  preserved  as  frequent  bombardments  have 

S 


4IO  The  Old  World  m  its  New  Face. 

permitted.  The  great  importance  of  this  place  for  centuries, 
when  it  was  often  an  miperial,  and  still  longer  a  royal  capi- 
tal, is  fully  attested  by  the  grandeur  of  its  palaces,  the  num- 
ber and  magnificence  of  its  churches,  the  multitude  of  its 
statues,  and  the  size  and  costliness  of  many  of  its  private 
houses.  The  Alhambra  itself  can  hardly  exceed  in  distant  ef- 
fect the  collection  of  buildings  connected  with  the  old  palace 
of  the  Bohemian  kings,  known  as  the  Hradschin.  No  palace 
in  Europe  yet  seen  by  us  holds  so  commanding  a  site,  or  oc- 
cupies with  such  dignity  so  large  and  lofty  a  section  of  the 
horizon. 

The  old  cathedral,  which  has  suffered  equally  from  foreign 
and  from  civil  wars,  from  dynastic  struggles  and  from  Protest- 
ant violence,  has  saved  enough  of  its  delicate  and  beautiful 
Gothic  architecture  to  remind  one  of  the  cathedral  at  Co- 
logne, while  it  contains  a  vast  store  of  undoubted  curiosities, 
in  the  shape  of  costly  pictures  and  carving,  by  Albert  Durer 
and  by  Leonardo  de  Vinci  and  Cranach — with  bronzes,  one 
of  which  claims  to  be  older  than  Christianity,  and  to  have 
been  brought  by  Titus  from  Jerusalem.  The  solid  silver 
shrine  of  John  of  Nepomuck  is  gorgeous  and  beautiful,  and 
occupies  a  large  space  in  one  of  the  aisles.  The  other 
churches  are  in  florid  Italian  style,  full  of  marbles  and  gilding, 
and  of  statues  of  gigantic  size  in  the  flaunting  style  of  so 
much  of  the  sculpture  in  wind-blown  draperies  in  the  Roman 
churches.  The  church  in  which  John  Huss  preached,  with 
the  identical  pulpit  from  which  that  glorious  hero  scattered 
his  fiery  protests,  is  still  standing  ;  and  the  monument  (a  mar- 
ble effigy)  of  Tyco  Brahe,  the  Danish  astronomer — the  friend 
and  co-worker  of  Kepler  —  occupies  one  side  of  a  column 
near  the  altar.  It  is  sad  to  see  this  cradle  of  Continental 
Protestantism,  so  boldly  seized  from  the  Catholic  faith  in  its 
most  absolute  day,  now  reclaimed  and  quietly  repossessed  by 


Cathedral  and  Synagogue.  411 

the  old  Roman  hierarchy.  The  Prince  Cardinal  of  Prague  is 
perhaps  the  most  absolute  and  unqualified  prelate  in  Europe, 
and  he  governs  his  Bohemian  province  with  undisputed  sway. 
His  palace  is  regal  and  his  dominion  perfect.  For  here,  in 
the  morning-land  of  the  Reformation,  where  Huss  shone  the 
glorious  star  of  the  new  faith — the  land  that  first  made  the 
greatest  and  bloodiest  sacrifices  for  its  fresh  and  ennobling 
convictions  of  religious  freedom — a  Catholicism  more  intense, 
more  universal,  more  superstitious  and  more  degrading  than 
is  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  Europe,  holds  the  entire  Chris- 
tian population  of  Prague  and  Bohemia  in  its  smothering 
grasp.  It  is  said  that  not  two  thousand  of  the  one  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  inhabitants  of  Prague  are  Protestants  ! 
There  are,  however,  about  thirty  thousand  Jews  here,  with  over 
thirty  synagogues.  Among  them  is  the  oldest  Jewish  syna- 
gogue in  Europe,  which  dates  back  to  the  eighth  century, 
although  in  parts  it  is  evidently  as  recent  as  the  thirteenth. 
It  is  the  only  Gothic  synagogue  known.  It  was  originally 
built  under  a  hill,  deep  in  the  ground,  and  was  covered  up 
and  buried  for  some  centuries  and  forgotten.  When  found, 
the  old  parchment  rolls  of  the  Pentateuch  were  discovered 
hidden  in  the  stone  ark  where  they  still  lie.  This  small  syn- 
agogue is  begrimed  with  smoke  and  dirt,  and  is  as  repulsive 
a  place  as  any  spot  so  steeped  in  antiquity,  and  sodden  in 
persecution,  and  glorified  with  stubborn  adhesiveness  to  he- 
reditary convictions,  can  be.  The  old  cemetery  near  by, 
crowded  with  tombstones  covered  with  Hebrew  characters, 
is  full  of  the  dust  of  Israelites  who  never  found  rest  out  of 
its  narrow  walls.  So  sacred  a  spot  has  not  failed  to  be  con- 
tended for  by  pious  Jews  as  a  place  of  final  repose,  and  four 
or  five  layers  of  graves  are  heaped  upon  each  other,  until  the 
surface  is  raised  ten  or  a  dozen  feet.  The  grave-stones  are 
almost  as  thick  together  as  paving-stones,  fairly  packed  for 


412  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

room.  But  Judaism  has  had  its  revenge.  Sternly  holding 
its  ground,  it  has  flourished  best  where  most  persecuted,  and 
Jews  now  hold  the  purse-strings  and  form  the  prosperous 
class  in  Prague  and  Bohemia.  Curses  upon  them  are  carved 
in  the  monuments  and  wrought  into  the  bridges  they  pass  in 
their  carriages  every  day. 

The  great  bridge  of  Prague,  the  oldest  and  longest  in  Ger- 
many, is  perhaps  of  all  bridges  in  the  world  the  most  histor- 
ic and  the  most  worthy  to  be  visited.  It  is  the  natural  cen- 
tre of  the  city,  and  is  as  sacred  to  the  superstition  and  faith 
of  the  people  as  it  is  essential  to  their  convenience  and  or- 
namental to  their  capital.  Lined  with  gigantic  groups  of 
statuary — which  show  even  from  the  neighboring  hills — it  is 
still  more  laden  with  associations.  From  its  parapet  the 
holy  John  of  Nepomuck  was  thrown  into  the  river,  by  order 
of  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus,  because  he  would  not  betray  the 
secrets  of  the  Empress  confided  to  him  at  the  confessional. 
Sainted  for  his  priestly  fidelity  only  two  centuries  after  his 
death,  he  is  the  patron  saint  of  bridges,  and  is  visited  by 
thousands  every  year  when  his  day  recurs  in  the  calendar. 
The  old  palace  of  Wallenstein  preserves  the  shell  of  its  an- 
cient magnificence,  and  makes  Schiller's  famous  plays  ring 
with  a  new  reality,  as  one  looks  at  the  skin  (stuffed  and  set 
up  in  his  palace)  of  the  very  Arabian  horse  he  rode  at  Lutzen, 
which  was  killed  on  the  battle-field.  His  stern  face  looks 
down  from  the  wall  of  the  apartment.  The  hall  where  he 
kinged  it  over  the  monarchs  of  his  time  is  still  magnificent 
with  marbles,  and  on  the  ceiling  he  appears  in  a  chariot  of 
triumph,  with  his  star  (which  his  astrologers  had  reported  to 
him  as  troubled  before  the  battle)  shining  in  great  splendor 
over  his  head  after  the  victory  was  won.  The  picture  at 
Munich  of  his  assassination  at  Eger,  which  is  so  powerful, 
came  back  to  my  memory  in  redoubled  force  here  in  the  pres- 


Poor  Etnigratits  and  Royal  Refugees.  413 

ence  of  so  many  testimonies  to  his  wonderful  influence  and 
transcendent  powers. 

The  museum  contains  some  manuscript  writing  of  Huss, 
and  a  picture  of  his  burning  at  Constance,  which  looks  very 
ancient,  and  is  very  impressive,  though  small.  Here  too  is 
shown  a  sword  with  the  name  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  dam- 
asked into  the  blade  ;  and,  still  more  interesting,  a  sword 
which  belonged  to  Christopher  Columbus. 

Prague  is  as  prosperous  as  a  city  ridden  by  a  Catholic 
priesthood  and  population  and  managed  as  an  Austrian  prov- 
ince can  be.  It  is  divided  between  the  rich  and  the  poor — 
like  Bohemia  itself,  which  has  no  middle  class.  The  land  is 
owned  by  nobles,  or  rich  proprietors,  in  immense  sections, 
over  which  are  scattered  a  set  of  miserable  peasants,  who  are 
little  better  than  the  slaves  of  their  employers.  Sometimes 
a  prince  or  count  owns  a  territory  of  a  hundred  square  miles, 
and  all  the  population  upon  it  are  really  his  vassals.  It  is 
not  strange  that  ten  thousand  Bohemians  have  emigrated  to 
America  this  year.  I  see  them  on  the  streets  in  wagons, 
making  their  way  to  the  depot,  en  route  for  America.  Poor 
as  they  are,  if  they  can  only  touch  our  shores  with  their  last 
penny  in  their  hands  they  are  saved  men  !  Blessed  haven  to 
a  population  which  all  over  Europe  is  landless  and  forlorn, 
and  to  whom  their  native  soil  offers  no  possible  hope  of  re- 
lief from  beggary  and  oppression.  In  Saxony  I  met  not  one 
bessar.  Bohemia  swarms  with  them.  Catholicism  and  men- 
dicity  go  hand  in  hand.  Prague  seems  the  refuge  of  ex-roy- 
alty. The  old  Austrian  Emperor  Ferdinand,  who  abdicated 
in  1848,  lives  in  the  old  palace.  I  saw  him  to-day  getting 
into  his  carriage — an  old  man  of  seventy-five,  very  infirm, 
with  noble  forehead  and  a  mean  face,  and  shrunken,  decrepit 
figure.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  has  a  palace  near  Wal- 
lenstein's  old  home,  and  another  three   miles  out  of  town. 


414  J^^i^  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

The  Duke  of  Hesse  has  bought  another  palace,  and  is  to  be 
seen  riding  about  in  uniform  in  a  state  coach.  Royalty  in 
these  days  sees  enough  shadows  in  its  path  to  line  its  secret 
pockets  with  the  means  of  a  wealthy  retirement.  The  old 
Emperor,  it  is  said,  has  many  millions  laid  up  in  foreign  funds. 
His  wife  gives  much  money  to  the  Jesuits,  and  he  is  very 
generous  to  the  poor.  As  I  leave  Northern  Germany  for 
Austria,  I  feel  a  great  regret  at  quitting  a  soil  that  bears  so 
interesting  a  population.  The  German  seems  to  have  an  ad- 
ditional upper  story  to  his  brain.  So  intellectual  a  race, 
judging  by  the  head  alone,  I  have  never  seen.  The  German, 
by  generations  of  culture  and  thought,  has  purged  away  his 
passions  and  impulses  and  become  a  kind  of  meditative  intel- 
lect, walking  round  on  somewhat  thin  legs  and  smallish  feet, 
with  no  back  to  his  head,  but  a  great  towering  forehead  full 
of  perception  and  ideas.  His  chin  is  thinned  away,  and  indi- 
cates feebleness  of  will,  and  his  high  head,  narrow  and  long, 
topples  for  want  of  base.  I  do  not  see  any  evidence  that  the 
German  will  again  rule  the  world,  spite  of  Prussian  success 
and  expectation.  I  think  the  imperial  day  of  the  race  is 
gone,  and  that  the  German  brain  is  not  likely  to  distinguish 
itself  again  in  action.  I  hope  it  will  not  rashly  insist  on 
fighting  France,  which  has  just  the  impulse  and  genius  for 
affairs  that  Germany  lacks.  But  for  companionship,  court- 
esy, substantial  and  internal  refinement,  many-sidedness  and 
knowledge  how  to  enjoy  life,  and  contentment,  who  can 
equal  as  a  whole  the  Germans  of  our  day  ? 

The  German  cuisine,  which  at  first  was  very  repulsive,  has 
grown  upon  us  with  experience,  until  we  have  come  to  think 
it  about  as  good  as  the  French.  It  is  very  various,  and  is 
specially  good  in  the  serving-up  of  vegetables  and  the  prep- 
aration of  gravies,  free  from  grease  and  unwholesome  con- 
diments.     A  German  dinner,  at  the  fable  d'hote  of  a  good 


German  Cookery.  415 

hotel,  is  a  capital  institution.     A  light  soup ;  a  carp  or  an 
eel,  with  a  cold  sauce  of  salad-dressing ;   a  piece  of  over- 
cooked beef  (usually  boiled),  with  a  good  gravy  ;  and.  small 
potatoes  cooked  with  butter ;  a  fowl,  with  salad  and  some 
cooked  fruit  (plums  or  cherries  or  apples),  served  together ;  a 
roasted  hare,  larded ;  a  pudding  (mehl-speise)  with  a  rasp- 
berry sauce  ;  some  ice-cream  and  a  cup  of  coffee  ;  this,  or 
something  very  like  it,  is  the  usual  dinner  at  a  first-rate  hotel. 
Ever^'  body  drinks  a  half-bottle  of  Rhine  or  French  wine  with 
dinner,  and  many  add  a  glass  of  light  beer.     The  service  is 
slow,  an  hour  and  a  half  being  the  usual  length  of  the  dinner. 
The  Germans  dine  at  one  o'clock,  but  four  or  five  is  be- 
coming not  unusual.      The  waiters  are  attentive,  respectful 
and  intelligent,  often  speaking  French  and  English  as  well  as 
German.     They  are  even  polished  in  their  manners,  always 
carefully  dressed,  and  wearing  black  dress-suits.      They  are 
fully  equal  in  intellectual  and  social   appearance  to  Amer- 
ican clerks  in  retail  stores.     The  hotels  are  almost  uniform- 
ly good.     In  Austria  bread  is  more   uniformly  good  than 
in   any  other  country.      The  flour   seems  whiter   and   the 
bread  more  skillfully  made.      This  was  recognized  at  the 
French  Exposition,  where  Austrian  bread  was   most  com- 
monly used  in  all  the  restaurants.      There  is  one  national 
dish  in  Austria  which  reminds  us  of  the  single  platter,  con- 
taining the  whole  dinner  of  the  family,  that  in  old  times  stood 
in  the  middle  of  the  farmer's  table  in  New  England.     It  is  a 
dish  of  meat  garnished  with  five  or  six  kinds  of  vegetables, 
each  occupying  its  small  section  of  the  crowded  dish,  some 
small  potatoes,  some  delicate  baby  carrots,  spinach,  choux 
de  Bruxelles  (little  cabbages  about  as  big  as  a  walnut),  some 
boiled  rice,  etc.     Tomatoes  are  very  little  used,  although  well 
known.      The  American  taste  for  raw  tomatoes  is  regarded 
with  a  curious  wonder. 


41 6  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

The  hotels  furnish  no  common  sitting-room,  except  the 
salle-a-manger,  or  dining-room,  which  usually  contains  a  few 
newspapers,  and  is  more  or  less  used  as  a  saloon,  especially 
in  cold  weather.  Travelers  are  isolated  in  their  own  apart- 
ments, and  many  dine  apart  in  their  own  salon.  As  a  rule, 
however,  the  table  d'hote  is  visited.  It  is  cheaper,  better, 
and  pleasanter.  The  old  prejudice  against  meeting  "Tom, 
Dick  and  Harry "  at  table  is  passing  away.  Either  Tom, 
Dick  and  Harry  have  improved  in  their  manners,  or  the  so- 
cial pride  and  exclusiveness  has  diminished.  At  any  rate, 
the  best  people  go  to  the  table  d'hote.  At  Dresden,  the 
young  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  for  a  week  a  regular  diner  at  the 
common  table.  This  is  a  great  innovation  on  the  customs 
of  thirty  years  ago,  when  dignity  made  a  private  dinner  in 
one's  own  salon  almost  a  necessity  for  persons  of  any  pre- 
tensions to  fortune  or  station.  American  ^^  herding "  as  it 
was  contemptuously  called,  is  becoming  nearly  universal  in 
Europe.  The  introduction  of  common  parlors,  such  as  we 
have  in  America,  will  soon  follow.  Already,  the  general 
habit  is  now  not  to  take  a  private  salon  with  one's  chambers. 
In  Austria  the  table  d'hote  does  not  succeed,  although  it 
has  been  again  and  again  tried  in  several  of  the  hotels.  The 
aristocratic  basis  of  society  is  less  disturbed  here,  and  the 
old  distinctions,  between  classes  make  the  people  jealous  of 
familiarity  or  intercourse  with  each  other.  But  even  here 
people  dine  in  a  common  room,  but  at  separate  tables. 

Nothing  illustrates  the  essential  diversity  between  Euro- 
pean and  American  life  better  than  the  railroads.  First,  the 
European  roads  (on  the  Continent)  are  all  slower  than  ours, 
and  the  trains  have  different  prices  for  tickets,  according  as 
they  are  express  trains,  or  mail  trains,  or  accommodation 
trains.  Their  express  trains  do  not  make  over  twenty-five 
miles.     The  stops  are  long  at  the  stations  and  very  frequent 


Railroad  Travel.  417 

on  ordinary  trains.  The  depots  are  uniformly  large,  commo- 
dious buildings,  commonly  the  stateliest  and  most  palatial 
edifices  in  town.  And  they  need  all  their  room  ;  for  they  di- 
vide and  subdivide  their  business  in  an  extraordinary  way. 
There  are  always  three  and  not  rarely  four  classes  of  tickets 
and  passengers,  first,  second,  third  and  fourth  class,  with  dif- 
ferent waiting-rooms  in  graduated  styles  for  each  class.  After 
buying  your  ticket,  your  baggage  is  carried  by  a  porter  (who 
must  be  fee'd)  to  the  weighing-office  near  by,  and  a  special 
ticket  obtained  for  it,  in  which  all  above  fifty  pounds  is 
charged  at  a  high  rate.  With  these  two  tickets  in  your  pock- 
et, you  are  prepared  to  be  locked  into  your  waiting-saloon 
and  kept  until  five  minutes  before  the  train  starts.  Then  you 
are  let  loose  and  must  take  such  a  place  in  the  train  as  a  uni- 
formed official,  of  whom  there  are  a  dozen  about,  may  assign 
you.  The  doors  of  the  compartments  are  locked,  so  that  you 
can  neither  enter  nor  get  out  without  the  conductor's  leave. 
There  are  three  compartments  to  each  car.  The  first-class 
compartments  hold  only  six,  and  are  roomy  and  luxurious, 
but  without  fire  in  the  coldest  weather.  Its  want  is  supplied 
by  a  hot-water  vessel  for  the  feet,  in  some  rare  instances. 
The  second-class  cars  are  good  enough  in  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria, but  not  in  France  and  Belgium.  The  third-class  are 
rude  and  comfortless,  although  very  much  used  by  respecta- 
bly-dressed people.  The  fourth-class  are  without  seats. 
There  is  a  difference  of  fare  of  at  least  one-quarter  of  the 
whole,  in  the  four  classes,  /'.  e.,  if  the  fourth  class  were  twenty- 
five  cents  for  five  miles,  the  third  would  be  fifty  cents,  the 
second  seventy-five  cents  and  the  first  one  dollar.  It  is,  then, 
a  very  real  distinction.  Americans  are  charged  with  a  fool- 
ish pride  in  riding  usually  in  the  first-class  cars.  I  have  not 
seen  a  great  deal  of  this  extravagance. 

There  is  one  character  in  all  hotels  of  the  first  importance 

S  2 


4i8  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

to  travelers,  the  porticr — not  the  porter,  or  burden  and  er- 
rand-man, but  the  fixture  who  occupies  the  porter's  lodge, 
and  in  his  gay  uniform  opens  the  carriage  door  and  welcomes 
travelers,  ushering  them  to  the  presence  of  the  landlord  or 
head-waiter,  and  his  suite.  The  more  waiters  on  the  stairs, 
the  more  honor !  The  portier  is  privy-counselor  of  all  the 
guests  !  He  knows  every  thing  about  money,  letters,  address- 
es, trains,  carriages,  theatres,  shows,  cigars,  shops  ;  talks  usu- 
ally a  little  of  three  or  four  languages  ;  is  sweet-tempered  and 
polite  ;  never  impatient ;  protects  you  from  all  frauds  but  his 
own  little  pickings,  and  expects  nothing  but  a  handsome  fee 
when  you  leave,  which  every  body  pays  cheerfully  to  so  use- 
ful a  person.  We  have  nothing  in  America  answering  to  this 
factotum  and  encyclopaedia  of  travelers'  information.  I  ad- 
mire unfeignedly  the  round,  smooth,  clean  face  and  burly 
body  of  this  cosmopolite,  who  seems  to  me  to  be  the  same 
man  at  all  European  inns,  and  I  mentally  shake  hands  with 
him  at  any  new  place,  or  with  the  excellent  individual  in  the 
same  laced  cap  (not  hat)  I  left  at  my  last  inn.  May  his 
shadow  never  be  less,  and  may  he  live  forever ! 


XXXIII. 


VIENNA. 


Austria,  November  20, 1867. 

'\7'IENNA,  the  third  of  the  great  capitals  of  the  Continent, 
and  one  which  has  so  often  controlled  the  destinies  of 
Europe,  is  a  city  of  about  600,000  inhabitants  within  the 
limits  of  its  Octroi,  and  with  half  as  many  more  so  closely 
united  to  it,  in  place  or  time,  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  an 
aggregation  of  a  million  of  people.  The  old  town,  whose 
walls  and  ditches  were  leveled  only  a  few  years  ago,  is  a 
small,  closely-packed  district,  built  about  the  old  palace, 
which  has  not  room  enough  to  show  itself,  and  is  a  shapeless 
agglomeration  of  edifices.  There  is  no  plan,  order  or  effect- 
iveness about  the  old  city.  Its  streets  are  narrow,  tortuous, 
and  mean.  It  is  cut  up  with  half-subterraneous  passages, 
uniting  its  twisted  streets  by  short  cuts  which  it  must  take 
half  a  life  to  understand.  It  needs  a  weasel's  wisdom  to 
thread  these  dark  and  winding  passages.  I  have  been  lost 
almost  every  time  I  have  gone  out  without  a  guide,  and 
only  after  beating  about  like  a  ship  in  a  fog  have  found  my 
way  to  my  destination.  And  the  walking  in  damp  or  rainy 
weather,  which  prevails  for  many  months,  and  specially  at 
this  season,  is  as  slippery,  muddy,  and  dangerous  as  the 
streets  are  narrow,  crowded,  and  irregular.  "  Culs-de-sac  " 
are  common.  Then,  alas,  there  are  in  the  old  town,  and 
where  they  are  most  needed,  no  sidewalks.  Old  Vienna  was 
made  for  an    aristocracy  who   drove   in  carriages   or  rode 


42 o  The  phi  World  in  its  New  Face. 

horseback.  Its  architects  seemed  to  think  the  common 
people  had  no  rights  in  the  streets,  and  were  little  better  than 
paving-stones.  This  notion  is  perpetuated  in  the  habits  of 
the  coachmen.  They  are  all  Jehus,  and  the  people  who 
walk  the  slowest  and  have  the  most  time  to  spare,  drive  fu- 
riously, as  if  on  errands  of  life  and  death,  and  indeed  they  are, 
for  accidents  of  collision  and  from  being  run  down  are  con- 
stant. Every  stranger  feels  his  life  in  peril  in  every  shopping 
expedition  or  lounge  through  the  main  street.  Ladies  can 
not  prudently  go  afoot  about  the  best  part  of  the  old  town. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  public  carriages  are  excellent,  clean 
and  handsome,  cheap  and  abundant.  The  horses  are  com- 
monly good,  and  the  quality  of  the  hacks  reminds  one  con- 
stantly of  the  private  coupes  used  by  ladies  in  New  York. 
They  have  but  one  fault,  a  great  one — they  are  never  high 
enough  to  accommodate  fully  a  gentleman  and  his  hat.  They 
suit  ladies  and  soldiers  exactly !  The  old  town  still  contains 
the  residences  of  the  aristocracy,  the  chief  hotels,  the  thea- 
tres and  the  public  buildings  of  the  court  and  government. 
But  it  is  now  only  a  single  ward  out  of  eight — seven  lying 
beyond  its  limits.  The  old  walls  and  the  ditch  and  glacis 
are  now  a  circular  promenade,  the  Viennese  Boulevards,  and 
are  fast  taking  on  a  Parisian  appearance.  Leaving  wide, 
and  what  in  summer  must  be  attractive  walks  and  drives, 
the  government  has  encouraged  the  sale  of  the  lands  lying 
between  the  old  town  and  the  former  suburbs,  by  freeing  the 
ground  from  taxes  for  thirty  years,  which,  considering  that  the 
house-tax  is  about  one-third  of  the  rental,  is  an  immense  pre- 
mium. The  ground  has  sold  at  high  rates,  and  is  rapidly 
becoming  covered  with  lofty  and  elegant  buildings.  The 
style  is  uniformly  on  the  palatial  order,  each  edifice  contain- 
ing many  homes  or  offices.  Indeed  street  numbers,  as  ap- 
plied to  buildings  in  Europe  generally,  but  in  Vienna  special- 


The   Viennese  in  Public.  421 

ly,  are  fearfully  significant.  No.  5  sometimes  lies  so  far  from 
No.  I  that  you  walk  the  distance  of  a  whole  American  block 
to  get  from  one  to  the  other.  In  short,  the  buildings  are  all 
immense  ;  and  when  you  find  your  number,  you  have  still  a  se- 
rious task  to  find  your  destination,  with  a  front,  a  middle  and 
a  rear  staircase,  opening  each  on  four  or  five  stories,  and 
two  or  more  suites  of  apartments,  it  may  be,  on  each  story. 
It  is  said  that  2000  people  live  in  one  building  in  Vienna, 
and  they  do  not  live  like  the  people  in  a  New  York  tenant- 
house. 

Beyond  the  Ring,  or  Boulevards,  stretches  out  in  streets 
not  wide  enough,  and  seldom  commanding,  but  over  a  vast 
territory,  the  new  city,  which  has  overrun  and  absorbed  the 
suburbs,  and  is  said  to  be  twelve  miles  in  circuit.  On  one 
side,  and  running  out  three  miles,  spreading  into  a  natural 
park  very  little  adorned  or  regulated,  is  the  Prater,  a  dull, 
uninviting  place  now,  but  the  scene  of  much  enjoyment  and 
popular  festivity  in  the  warm  season.  Then  and  there  Vien- 
nese character  comes  out  in  all  its  lightness  and  brilliancy, 
in  music  and  dancing,  and  in  garden-life,  and  here  the  Aus- 
trian taste  for  puppets  and  theatres  and  shows  runs  riot. 
Here,  too,  equipage  emulates  and  even  thinks  it  surpasses 
the  gorgeous  processions  of  the  Champs  Elysees  and  the  Bois 
de  Boulogne  ;  and  it  may  well  be,  for  when  it  comes  to  uni- 
forms and  horse-trappings,  Austria  is  in  the  van.  Her  sol- 
diers wear  a  white  uniform  which  lights  up  every  promenade 
and  every  public  assembly.  Her  generals  wear  a  light  blue 
coat  stiff  with  gold  lace.  The  coachmen  of  the  Princes, 
Counts  and  Barons  are  masses  of  gold,  cocked  hat,  and  laced 
coats  coming  down  about  their  heels  in  such  a  way  that  I 
am  not  sure  whether  they  have  any  legs  or  not.  The  porters 
at  the  gates  of  the  nobility  or  the  public  edifices,  at  this  sea- 
son are  so  bedizened  with  fur  and  lace  that  a  Russian  bear 


42  2  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

in  regimentals  could  hardly  present  a  more  imposing  appear- 
ance, especially  when  we  add  an  official  staff  in  hand  that 
looks  like  a  sceptre.  They  are  fully  equal  (could  I  say 
more  ?)  to  a  drum-major  !  Put  these  people,  with  gayly- 
dressed  ladies,  in  carriages  of  the  most  positive  colors,  and 
behind  horses  housed  in  the  heaviest  harnesses  overlaid  with 
plates  of  gilded  metal,  and  set  these  gorgeous  coachmen  on 
their  thrones,  and  lackies  to  match  on  the  foot-board,  and  the 
dullest  imagination  may  be  left  to  fancy  the  effect !  The 
Bohemian  and  the  Hungarian  nobility,  who  come  to  Vienna 
to  outshine  the  Austrian  aristocracy,  have  a  certain  barbaric 
splendor  of  costume  and  equipage,  which  is  called  up  to  most 
minds  by  the  mere  name  of  Esterhazys  and  Lichtensteins. 
Just  now  the  hunting  season  is  /«,  and  the  nobles  are  all  out! 
Vienna  is  dull  with  rain  and  fog,  with  the  lull  of  business  and 
of  social  life. 

Not  that  it  has  much  social  life  in  our  sense,  or  in  an  En- 
glish sense,  at  any  time.  The  middle  classes  are  sociable 
outside  their  houses,  in  cafes  and  beer  saloons.  Public  balls 
for  this  class  occupy  the  Sunday  evenings.  The  people  are 
in  general  good-natured,  witty,  and  devoted  to  amusement. 
But  above  them,  society  appears  hardly  to  exist  in  a  Saxon 
sense.  The  nobility  associate  exclusively  with  each  other, 
with  a  rigorous  isolation.  Nowhere  has  rank  such  rankness  ! 
Title,  family,  blood,  station  are  sacred  realities.  The  Em- 
peror, it  is  said,  is  not  familiar  even  with  his  own  brothers, 
but  stands  a  little  apart,  even  in  a  hunting-field.  There  is 
no  want  of  domestic  affection  among  the  Austrian  nobility, 
but  the  circle  is  so  close,  and  so  inclusive  and  exclusive,  that 
it  possesses  a  dull  and  stupid  life,  unenlivened  and  unre- 
freshed  by  new  blood  or  contact  with  men  and  things.  Rid- 
ing and  hunting  appear  to  be  its  chief  solaces.  The  nobili- 
t}',  with  vast  estates  but  great  entailments  of  expense  from 


Aristocracy.  423 

old  dependents,  are  usually  in  debt,  and  not  seldom  their 
affairs  are  in  the  hands  of  governmental  commissioners  who 
collect  their  incomes  and  pay  them  an  allowance  for  expenses. 
They  are  not  hospitable,  and  do  little  for  the  social  life  of 
Vienna.  Almost  all  the  elegant  entertainments  of  the  winter 
are  due  to  the  foreign  embassadors.  The  aristocracy  attend 
them  with  pleasure,  and  forget  to  return  the  civility.  There 
are  marked  exceptions,  but  this  seems  to  be  the  rule.  The 
bankers  or  great  merchants  are  beginning  to  have  p.ilaces 
of  their  own,  and  are  likely  enough  to  take  the  social  lead. 
It  is  time  ;  for  so  exclusive  is  the  noble  circle  here,  that 
neither  worth,  distinction  in  letters,  beauty,  nor  services  (al- 
ways provided  they  are  not  military)  can  pass  its  enchanted 
lines.  A  minister  of  state,  who  held  a  thousand  offices  in  his 
gift,  but  who  had  married  a  beautiful,  gifted,  and  every  way 
presentable  lady,  not  of  noble  blood,  could  not  introduce  her 
at  court !  But  a  princess  of  bad  personal  reputation  is  still 
a  leader  in  aristocratic  fashion  !  An  advertisement  appears 
in  yesterday's  paper,  opening"  a  vacant  canoncy  (one  of 
three  founded  by  Prince  Lichtenstein)  to  the  competition  of 
priests,  but  states  that  none  need  apply  who  have  not  six 
quarterings  of  nobility !  It  is  worth  $700  a  year,  and  will 
have  fifty  rival  claimants !  There  is  clearly  room,  then,  for 
a  social  life  on  a  better  plane,  and  the  merchants  and  cap- 
italists' of  Vienna  might  introduce  it.  But,  alas  !  they  are 
all  very  much  under  the  delusion  that  blood  and  title  are  the 
only  things  much  worth  having.  We  often  regret  in  Ameri- 
ca that  money  has  so  much  social  power !  It  is  sadly  to  be 
deplored  that  it  has  not  more  here.  Its  inability  to  purchase 
admission-  into  the  noble  circle  makes  it  undervalued  too 
much  even  for  enterprise  and  success  in  its  own  proper 
sphere.  Whether  this  false  and  feudal  notion  of  the  value 
of  blood  can  be  exorcised  in  Austria  in  our  time  is  doubtful, 


424  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

but  it  is  an  incubus  on  a  true  national  life,  and  keeps  society 
here  on  an  unimproving  and  a  discouraging  basis. 

The  next  obstacle  to  a  true  participation  on  the  part  of 
Vienna  in  the  life  of  other  great  capitals,  London,  Paris, 
Berlin,  New  York,  is  the  shocking  domination  of  the  Catholic 
hierarchy.  Austria  proper  is  almost  a  purely  Catholic  coun- 
try. Out  of  more  than  thirty  millions  it  has  only  300,000 
Protestant  subjects.  Amid  its  myriad  Roman  Catholic 
churches  stand  scattered,  here  and  there,  190  Protestant 
churches  all  told !  And  what  Protestantism  it  has  is  essen- 
tially torpid  and  unprogressive,  presenting  nothing  attractive 
or  promising.  Indeed,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  the  Protestant- 
ism here,  except  so  far  as  it  has  been  invigorated  by  some 
twenty  pastors  educated  in  Prussian  schools  of  theology,  is  a 
narrow,  dogmatic,  repulsive,  and  worse  than  that,  a  cold  and 
apathetic  thing,  which  supplies  no  real  want  and  meets  no 
heart-felt  acceptance. 

Vienna  has  three  Protestant  churches  and  a  Protestant 
population  of  perhaps  30,000,  an  intelligent  German,  thrifty 
class,  largely  merchants.  It  has  a  Lutheran  and  a  Reformed 
church,  side  by  side,  in  one  building  (now  a  hundred  years 
old),  and  these  bodies,  representing  different  confessions,  are 
agreed  in  supporting  one  common  school.  It  has  another 
Lutheran  church  of  costly  character,  capable  of  holding  a 
thousand  people.  One  of  the  elders  told  me  that  he  never 
went  to  church,  but  was  very  attentive  to  the  monetary  affairs 
of  the  church.  He  said  that  none  of  the  elders  attended 
public  worship  !  I  met  for  a  few  moments,  accidentally,  a 
half-dozen  of  the  pastors  of  the  Reformed  Church,  gathered 
from  a  district  reaching  from  Trieste  to  Prague.  It  was  a  very 
discouraging  assembly  !  The  Lutherans  are  stronger,  but 
make  no  considerable  headway.  Their  best  hope  lies  in  pro- 
moting schools  of  their  own,  which  shall  be  legally  protected. 


Popery  Rampajit.  425 

and  in  laboring  to  secure  a  law  for  which  they  are  striving, 
to  make  all  the  public  schools  in  Austria  free  from  a  religious 
test,  either  as  to  the  teachers  or  the  children.  At  present, 
Roman  Catholic  mass  or  prayers  open  the  schools  and  g}aTi- 
nasiums.  The  Protestant  children  are  allowed  to  come  late, 
and  to  go  out  before  the  service.  But  the  instruction  is  all 
in  the  interest  of  the  Roman  Church.  You  find,  even  in  the 
medical  schools,  the  universities,  and  all  the  most  dignified 
places  of  instruction,  the  crucifix  set  up,  with  images  of  saints, 
and  the  whole  hierarchical  apparatus  of  appeal  to  the  senses. 
I  saw  in  a  new  hospital  to-day,  in  Vienna,  a  half-gross  of  cru- 
cifixes in  biscuit,  set  up  on  walnut  pedestals  (and  worth  each 
in  New  York  ten  dollars),  all  of  one  pattern,  and  lying  in  a 
heap  like  so  many  dolls  on  a  counter,  but  which  were  des- 
tined to  be  set  up  in  each  room  of  the  hospital. 

With  Protestantism  thus  dead  and  powerless  in  a  country 
which  it  once  might  almost  have  called  its  own,  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism is  not  (out  of  the  Tyrol  and  a  part  of  Bohemia)  really 
alive,  but  its  corpse  encumbers  the  whole  ground.  The  hie- 
rarchy (not  the  Church)  is  alive,  and  was  never  more  power- 
ful. The  priests  hold  the  royal  family  in  their  grasp,  and, 
through  the  Emperor  and  the  women  of  his  house,  largely 
control  the  policy  of  the  government.  The  Catholic  laity  are 
not  as  a  rule  in  sympathy  with  their  hierarchy.  They  know 
that  the  generous  counsels  of  Joseph  II.,  and  other  liberal  rul- 
ers and  ministers,  have  often  been  repressed  and  defeated 
by  these  cardinals,  bishops  and  priests.  They  believe  that 
their  present  Emperor,  when  still  uncertain  of  his  life  after 
the  blow  he  received  from  the  deluded  Hungarian  patriot, 
who  nearly  killed  him  with  a  blow  at  his  neck  in  his  own 
garden  (in  1853),  promised  the  archbishop  who  came  to  give 
him  extreme  unction,  that,  if  he  recovered,  he  would  make 
the  infamous  "  Concordat "  with  the  Pope.     This  archbishop  is 


426  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

the  only  person  who  clay  or  night  has  the  privilege  of  enter- 
ing unannounced  the  Emperor's  presence  ;  and  the  people 
feel  that  this  means  only  restraint  and  injustice  for  them. 
They  dread,  too,  a  back-stairs  influence,  exerted  under  eccle- 
siastical inspiration  by  the  ladies  of  the  court,  even  more 
than  the  influence  on  the  Emperor.  They  think  measures 
often  fail,  after  they  have  escaped  all  other  opposition,  from 
a  final  blow  in  the  dark,  dealt  by  a  priest  through  a  woman's 
sleeve ! 

But,  more  than  all,  and  worse  than  all,  Austria  and  Vien- 
na are  Catholic  in  all  their  usages,  habits,  expectations,  tem- 
pers and  sympathies,  without  having  faith  in  their  own  creed 
or  their  own  priesthood !  Men  and  women,  yes,  and  occa- 
sionally priests  themselves,  privately  confess,  it  is  affirmed 
here,  their  unbelief  in  their  religion ;  but  a  thousand  more 
have  not  interest  enough  to  do  even  this.  A  monstrous  in- 
differentism  is  the  true  name  for  their  condition.  And  on 
this  stolid  indifferentism  the  hierarchy  builds.  It  is  almost 
as  firm  a  foundation  as  superstition  itself  Busy,  skillful,  pa- 
tient and  cautious,  the  priesthood  preserves  the  powers  and 
sway  of  the  Church  and  lets  religion  take  care  of  itself.  It  is 
all  they  can  do  to  protect  and  uphold  the  spectacle  and  keep 
the  solid  income,  and  exercise  the  vast  political  and  social 
control  they  possess  over  education,  marriage,  hospitals  an^ 
asylums  of  all  classes ;  over  the  nobility  and  the  women  and 
the  children.  The  men,  so  long  as  they  are  not  noisy  about 
their  indifference,  may  practice  what  negligence  they  will. 
On  one  point,  that  of  marriage,  there  is  a  general  sensitive- 
ness which  promises  some  reform.  Every  body  knows  that 
if  Protestants  marry  Catholics  the  children  must  be  brought 
up  Catholics ;  that  divorce  is  not  possible  by  any  legal  proc- 
ess. This  works  in  the  present  condition  of  things  terrible 
evils.     It  drives  thousands  to  matrimonial  relations  without 


Indiffere?ice  of  the  People.  427 

marriage.  A  frightful  percentage  of  the  children  in  Austria, 
and  specially  in  Vienna,  are  born  out  of  wedlock.  There  is 
an  earnest  effort.  Catholics  and  Protestants  uniting,  to  get 
marriage  made  a  civil  contract.  Another  vehement  and  well- 
nigh  successful  effort  is  making  to  free  the  teachers  of  schools 
and  the  character  of  schools  from  any  confessional  test.  It 
would  be  the  first  great  step  in  the  emancipation  of  Austria 
from  a  Catholic  paralysis. 

But,  after  all,  the  character  of  the  people  themselves  is 
the  chief  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  religious  or  political  lib- 
erty. Either  they  have  so  long  been  accustomed  to  a  pater- 
nal government,  and  to  an  aristocratic  or  priestly  hierarchy 
that  they  can  not  imagine  the  advantages  of  a  state  of  society 
without  it,  or  they  are  constitutionally  torpid  and  inapt  as 
respects  economic,  social  and  political  life.  For  instance, 
they  have  in  Vienna  an  excellent  city  charter  and  constitu- 
tion— almost  democratic  in  its  character.  There  are  at  least 
50,000  voters  who,  divided  into  three  classes  (according  to 
the  amount  of  taxes  they  pay),  may  elect  and  send  to  their 
Common  Council — which  has  great  powers — such  represent- 
atives as  they  will.  In  one  district,  out  of  1200  voters  not 
a  hundred  used  their  privilege  !  Perhaps  not  5000  votes 
could  be  got  out  for  any  election  !  The  offices  of  Mayor  and 
Alderman  go  a  begging.  They  are  unpaid  and  laborious,  it 
is  true,  but  honorable  and  influential ;  they  can  not  find  joub- 
lic  interest  enough  among  the  citizens  to  take  these  offices. 

The  general  government,  in  true  Austrian  style,  continued 
one  Common  Council  and  its  Mayor  in  office  for  twelve 
years,  without  calling  on  the  people  to  elect  new  officers  ;  and 
they  submitted  as  quietly  as  lambs  to  this  atrocious  infringe- 
ment on  their  rights.  What  a  paralysis  of  political  life  is 
here  indicated !  The  people  have  been  so  long  accustomed 
to   be  superintended,  interfered  with,  and   protected,  that 


428  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

they  have  lost  the  sense  of  freedom.  Until  recently  they 
possessed  no  right  of  assemblage,  and  could  not  even  meet 
together  to  hear  the  views  of  their  candidate  for  an  election. 
Joint- stock  companies  were  all  matters  of  special  and  ex- 
ceptional privilege,  and  could  not  hold  a  business  meeting 
without  the  presence  of  a  government  commissioner  to  watch 
their  proceedings  and  forbid  what  he  did  not  approve ! 
Hedged  and  shackled  in  this  painful  way,  is  it  strange  that 
every  form  of  large  industry  is  behindhand  ?  Two  very  im- 
portant acts  have  this  very  week  received  the  imperial  assent, 
allowing  the  right  of  assembly,  and  the  freedom  of  associa- 
tion in  corporate  bodies.  But  it  is  certain  that  th*e  Austri- 
ans  do  not  yet  know  how  to  use  even  the  fresh  liberties  they 
so  slowly  acquire.  The  government  may  almost  be  said  to 
be  more  willing  to  give  than  they  are  to  receive  liberal 
measures.  Indeed  so  enlightened  a  minister  as  Von  Beust 
must  find  his  chief  obstacle  in  the  apathy  of  the  people.  The 
government  sees  more  or  less  clearly  that  the  Austrian  peo- 
ple can  not  carry  the  necessary  and  fresh  taxation  which  can 
alone  relieve  the  national  credit  unless  its  spirit  is  quicken- 
ed to  more  enterprise,  activity  and  industry  ;  and  the  only 
kind  of  food  that  will  effect  this  enlivening  is  what  was  so 
long  known  as  the  wild  oats  of  liberty  !  Thus  more  libt*?ty 
for  the  people  has-  become  a  government  necessity.  But, 
alas !  the  people  who  suppose  they  are  very  hungry  for  this 
food  have  hitherto  shown  very  little  appetite  when  it  was 
set  before  them.  They  do  not  use  a  tenth  part  of  the  free- 
dom they  have.  They  take  out  their  dissatisfaction  with 
their  Church  and  their  aristocratic  government  in  gibes  and 
theatrical  caricatures,  or  in  pictures  in  their  Austrian  Punch. 
If  they  are  only  left  free  to  laugh  and  joke  at  the  expense  of 
their  superiors  and  privileged  oppressors,  they  are  content 
to  leave  them  all  their  powers  and  privileges.     There  is  a 


Power  of  the  Theatre.  429 

certain  freedom  in  the  press  and  on  the  stage  here  in  Vienna 
larger  than  one  meets  in  Prussia.  The  government  seems 
so  confident  of  the  tameness  of  the  people  that  it  allows  them 
(within  wide  boundaries)  to  say  what  they  will.  The  edito- 
rial corps  are  witty  Jews  generally,  who  write  with  much 
esprit,  but  who  neither  lead  nor  intend  to  lead  to  any  politi- 
cal action. 

The  theatre  is  an  institution  here  of  incredible  importance. 
Many  people  seem  to  live  on  its  breath.  The  performances 
are  the  most  familiar  topic  of  conversation,  and  in  a  banking- 
house,  in  the  busiest  hours,  I  was  kept  waiting  to-day  while 
the  manager  discussed  the  merits  of  Gounod  and  Wagner 
with  a  trio  of  earnest  German  visitors.  The  Court  Theatre, 
a  wretched  place  under  the  imperial  roof,  has  a  most  refined 
and  accomplished  company,  who  act  on  the  whole  better  than 
any  company  I  have  ever  seen.  The  parquette  is  open  to 
the  public,  but  the  boxes  are  all  bought  by  the  aristocracy, 
and  they  assemble  as  if  at  a  family  party,  to  meet  always  the 
same  people  and  enjoy  society  without  any  domestic  trouble 
or  expense.  There  is  no  extravagance  of  costume  and  no 
excess  of  beauty  in  these  boxes.  It  is  very  much  the  same 
with  the  Royal  Opera,  which  has  a  shabby  house,  but  an  ex- 
cellent company.  A  magnificent  new  opera-house,  the  rival 
of  the  one  now  building  in  Paris,  is  rapidly  approaching  com- 
pletion. It  will  hold  three  or  four  thousand  people,  and  is 
finely  situated.  But  it  is  in  the  people's  theatres  that  one 
sees  how  serious  is  the  charm  of  dramatic  entertainments  for 
this  community.  Really,  to  see  their  democratic  aspirations 
acted  out  in  a  play,  seems  almost  better  to  them  than  to  have 
the  trouble  of  sustaining  them  in  actual  life  !  They  enjoy  a 
sharp  satire  on  a  brainless  prince  or  a  meddling  bigot  better 
than  the  abatement  of  aristocratic  or  ecclesiastical  hindrances. 
The  Viennese  have  lost  the  capacity  for  public  life  and  ad- 


43  o  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

ministrative  and  executive  action,  under  the  long  reign  of 
military  bureaucracy  and  that  form  of  paternal  government 
which  is  an  iron  hand  in  a  silken  glove. 

Soldiering  is  still  more  the  bane  of  Austria  than  of  Prus- 
sia. From  the  monarch  down,  every  Austrian  is  more  or  less 
a  soldier,  on  drill,  under  orders,  and  with  a  tendency  to  a  hie- 
rarchical dependence.  Now  there  is  no  bigger  child  in  the 
world,  in  a  political  or  social  sense,  than  a  soldier — if  it  be 
not  a  sailor.  A  soldier  is  one  small  part  of  a  great  human 
machine,  for  whose  general  movements  he  has  no  responsi- 
bility. His  highest  wisdom  is  to  know  nothing  of  reasons, 
but  to  obey  orders  with  the  blindest  punctiliousness.  He  is 
to  love  his  flag  and  to  adorn  his  uniform  ;  to  know  all  the 
etiquette  of  his  rank,  and  to  sink  his  personality  in  his  regi- 
ment. The  Crown  Prince  is  brought  up  between  a  soldier 
and  a  priest.  He  is  first  a  soldier  and  then  a  Catholic,  and 
when  he  ascends  the  throne,  soldiers  and  priests  are  his  sole 
idea  of  wisdom  and  influence,  and  this  idea  descends  through 
all  the  nobles  and  gentry  and  people.  The  army  is  the  only 
possible  way  of  rising  socially.  All  the  finest  young  men  go 
into  it.  It  makes  them  essentially  decorous  idlers.  It  helps 
to  keep  labor  of  brain  and  hands  under  reproach.  TheiV  is 
no  proper  emancipation  yet  from  the  notion  that  the  profes- 
sions and  commerce  and  trade  are  ignoble  occupations. 
These  dreadful  standing  armies  are  the  curse  of  Europe. 
They  cost  the  people  a  hundred  times  more  than  the  fearful 
show  they  make  in  the  budget !  Their  worst  influence  is  in 
subtracting  from  industry  such  vast  quantities  of  labor,  in 
making  idleness  respectable,  and  in  substituting  the  drill-ser- 
geant for  the  individual  judgment  and  conscience  of  men. 

Another  sad  blow  at  the  prosperity  of  Austria  and  Vienna 
is  the  number  of  saints'  days  and  festivals.  About  once  a 
week  all  labor  ceases,  and  the  people  are  given  up  to  festivi- 


Saints  and  Beggars.  431 

ty  and  church-going.  Twice  in  ten  days  it  has  occurred  since 
we  have  been  here.  Once  it  was  the  day  of  St.  Leopold, 
patron  of  the  Austrian  Church.  The  stores  were  universally 
closed,  and  all  industry  ceased.  Even  the  theatres  were 
shut — which  they  are  not  on  Sundays.  A  few  days  later,  the 
Empress's  baptismal  day  was  the  signal  for  the  closing  of  the 
schools.  It  is  estimated  that  four  hundred  millions  of  indus- 
try is  annually  lost  by  the  forty  days  of  Church  festival  that 
occur  in  Austria.  The  worst  is  not  the  money  lost,  but  the 
mental  and  social  habits  engendered.  Religion  and  idleness 
move  together.  The  saints  give  the  people  all  their  worldly 
pleasures,  and  take  them  away  from  their  serious  duties  and 
disciplinary  cares. 

Austria  is  by  no  means  overburdened  with  population,  es- 
pecially in  her  eastern  provinces,  which,  under  a  proper  land 
system,  might  support  thrice  their  present  numbers.  But, 
alas !  she  is  ridden  to  death  with  indigence  and  poverty,  which 
she  unconsciously  increases  by  her  false  political  economy. 
Beggary  is  rendered  almost  a  necessity  by  the  fewness  of  the 
han.ds  in  which  the  lands  are  found,  and  the  habitual  depend- 
ence of  the  people  on  a  guidance  and  care  which  their  mas- 
ters seem  ignorant  how  to  afford.  There  is  little  dependence 
to  be  placed  on  agents  and  middle-men.  The  English  sys- 
tem of  letting  lands  for  terms  of  years  does  not  prevail.  The 
proprietor  deals  directly  with  his  tenants,  who  are  little  better 
than  serfs.  The  people  live  meanly  and  without  much  possi- 
bility of  saving.  They  are  beggars  almost  by  necessity — and 
beggary  is  even  more  common  in  the  country  than  in  the  city. 
The  priest  is  hardly  more  than  a  public  almoner.  The 
church-door  is  a  place  of  alms.  Beggary  is  made  almost  re- 
spectable by  the  public  recognition  it  receives  from  Church 
and  State.  If  a  rich  nobleman  or  a  monarch  visits  the  Aus- 
trian court  at  any  point,  he  is  sure  to  receive  hundreds  of 


432  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

bee:£ine  letters !     He  must  take  it  into  account,  as  a  part  of 
his  unavoidable  expenses,  to  satisfy  these  starving  cormorants. 
And  so  accepted  is  the  poverty  of  the  masses  here  that  a  vast 
system  of  almshouses,  hospitals  and  asylums  exists,  which 
help  to  perpetuate  the  evil  it  seeks  to  relieve.     I  have  visited 
at  least  a  dozen  of  these  institutions,  for  aged  and  indigent 
people  of  both  sexes,  for  orphans  and  for  the  sick.      And 
certainly  Vienna  has  shown  vast  municipal  liberality,  and  the 
government  an  immense  zeal  and  charity  in  the  erection  of 
costly  edifices,  and  in  the  internal  ordering  of  them  an  un- 
stinted hand.     A  new  almshouse  of  a  most  imposing  charac- 
ter, with  stone  pillars  and  galleries  that  would  adorn  a  royal 
palace,  with  beds  for  twelve  hundred,  and  accommodations 
of  an  almost  luxurious  character,  may  illustrate  the  subject. 
The  furniture  was  all  of  oak,  and  every  bed  had  an  oaken 
wardrobe,  which  also  opened  as"  desk  and  table,  connected 
with  it.     The  chairs  were  handsome  and  costly.     By  paying 
a  small  sum,  a  room  with  only  four,  or  even  two  beds,  could 
be  secured.     Otherwise,  the  hospital  was  free.     The  ventila- 
tion was  not   satisfactory,  even   in  this   new  house,  which 
claimed  to  be  a  model.     Water  (of  which  a  very  poor  sVpply 
is  found  in  Vienna)  was  drawn  from  the  Danube,  and  then 
carried  by  hand  from  the  lower  story  to  all  the  rooms.     In 
a  private  house,  a  friend  tells  me  that  it  takes  the  time  of 
one  man  to  supply  wood  and  water  to  the  three  stories,  a  fact 
which  illustrates  the  condition  of  mechanical  ingenuity  and 
of  public  enterprise  here.     This  almshouse  was  not  very  su- 
perior to  several  others.     But  they  were  all  of  them  far  too 
good  for  any  sound  notions  of  philanthropy.     They  actually 
offered   a  kind  of  premium  on   thrifdessness   and  idleness. 
The  unsuccessful,  the  unfortunate  and  the  shiftless  are  better 
off  under  such  management  than  those  who  by  great  exertions, 
constant  forethought  and  self-control,  keep  their  heads  just 


Charities.  433 

above  public  charity.  In  all  the  Austrian  charities  I  found 
neatness,  abundant  and  good  supplies,  and  a  kind  adminis- 
tration. The  people,  too,  did  not  look  cowed  and  wretched. 
But  I  felt  terribly  the  injustice  which  these  vast  outlays  and 
ministries  was  doing  to  the  general  spirit  of  independence 
and  to  the  overtaxed  work-people  who  saw  the  fortunate  few 
among  the  wretched  thus  petted  by  a  paternal  government. 

I  should  mention,  in  connection  with  the  almshouses,  one 
peculiarity  which  may  be  not  unworthy  of  imitation  at  home. 
Instead  of  a  certain  allowance  of  food  at  a  common  table, 
each  inmate  has  a  daily  allowance  of  twenty-two  kreutzers 
(about  ten  cents)  paid  him  in  cash.  A  restaurant  (the  privi- 
leges of  which  are  farmed  out),  with  a  tariff  of  very  low-priced 
but  wholesome  dishes,  is  kept  in  a  corner  of  the  almshouse. 
And  there  the  individual  inmates  go  and  buy  their  soup,  their 
bit  of  meat,  their  stew  or  cooked  vegetables  at  incredibly  low 
prices.  Enough  soup  for  a  man's  dinner  for  three  kreutzers, 
for  instance.  A  man  may  spare  three  kreutzers  a  day  for 
beer,  out  of  this  sum,  and  still  feed  himself  sufficiently.  The 
best  effect  of  the  system  is  some  little  spirit  of  independent 
choice  preserved  to  the  poor  people,  who  have  their  own 
money  to  spend  in  their  own  way.  It  is  worth  thinking 
whether  some  similar  plan  might  not  be  an  improvement  on 
present  methods  in  America. 

The  orphan  asylums  of  Vienna,  both  Protestant  and  Cath- 
olic, are  excellent  institutions,  and  managed  at  a  cost  of  less 
than  $100  per  child.  The  children  looked  wanting  in  red 
blood,  which  is  perhaps  due  to  the  climate  of  Vienna,  in  the 
valley  of  a  river  that  carries  malaria  in  its  channel.  Typhoid 
fevers  seem  the  most  common  form  of  malady  in  this  region. 

The  schools  are  as  good  as  the  want  of  eager  appetite  for 
knowledge  and  the  absence  of  practical  tendencies  will  allow. 
They  spend  a  unconscionable  time  on  drawing.     They  teach 

T 


434  -^'^  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

writing  before  reading,  by  a  process  which  merits  the  atten- 
tion of  teachers.  The  children  learn  to  read  almost  without 
knowing  it,  by  this  method,  which  seemed  to  me  both  novel 
and  excellent.  There  are  three  or  four  high  schools,  one  a 
Protestant  school,  another  the  commercial  college,  another 
the  gymnasium,  which  have  sprung  up  in  Vienna  out  of  the 
associated  efforts  and  contributions  of  private  citizens,  which 
interested  me  as  much  for  their  origin  as  their  general  char- 
acter. They  uniformly  make  the  casket  finer  than  the  jewel, 
and  expend  absurd  sums  in  the  brick  and  mortar  and  decora- 
tions of  their  schools.  But  they  have  learned  teachers,  and 
no  doubt  education  is  as  well  carried  on  as  it  can  be  when 
divorced  from  liberty.  But  how  is  it  possible  to  educate  to 
any  real  purpose,  without  the  co-operation  of  that  liberty 
which  secures  an  open  career  and  stimulates  with  hope  and 
aspiration  all  the  faculties  of  free  peoples  .-• 

Only  yesterday  a  great  event  in  its  symbolic  import  occur- 
red in  Vienna.  Parliament  has  just  abolished  chains  as  a 
part  of  criminal  punishment,  and  also  whipping.  Yesterday 
being  the  Empress's  baptismal  day,  the  new  system  w<^  in- 
augurated. Two  hundred  criminals  were  carried  in  their 
chains  (which  some  had  worn  ten  years)  into  the  church  con- 
nected with  the  prison,  and  there  their  chains  were  struck 
off,  and  they  were  returned  unbound  to  their  cells  and  work- 
yards.     It  is  a  happy  augury  for  Austrian  liberty ! 

I  visited  with  interest  the  abattoirs  of  Vienna.  This  city 
claims  to  have  been  the  first  to  establish  public  butcheries, 
and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  enjoyed  their  advantages. 
The  cattle  are  driven  in  or  brought  by  rail  from  Hungary, 
Poland,  and  nearer  parts  of  the  empire,  and  seemed  lean  and 
scraggy  ;  not  in  the  least  degree  stall-fed.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  beef  in  Austria  is  generally  so  poor,  or  that  they  find  it 
expedient  to  cook  it  so  much  and  to  serve  it  with  a  made 


Slaughter  Houses.  435 

gravy,  and  never  d  PAnglaise,  i.  e.,  rarely  done,  and  with  its 
own  juice.  Nor  is  it  strange  that  veal  should  be  considered 
as  a  greater  luxury  than  beef,  and  should  be  sold  at  a  higher 
price.  Beef  sells  at  from  eighteen  to  twenty-three  cents  per 
pound,  and  is  always  rising.  The  butchers  are  obliged  to 
bring  all  their  beeves  to  the  public  abattoirs,  where  2000 
oxen  per  week  are  slaughtered.  The  carcass  is  cut  up  al- 
ways in  one  way,  and  separated  into  its  several  qualities, 
weighed  and  parceled  out  to  the  butchers,  not  always  from 
their  own  oxen,  but  according  to  a  system  by  which  they 
have  their  proportion  of  the  whole  lot  slaughtered  at  one 
time.  The  various  parts  of  the  animal  are  almost  completely 
used  up,  either  by  what  is  returned  to  the  butchers  as  beef, 
or  by  various  processes  carried  on  in  the  abattoir  itself  The 
entrails  are  used  in  blood  baths,  applied  for  the  cure  of  vari- 
ous rheumatic  and  other  diseases,  in  a  cure-establishment 
carried  on  every  slaughtering-day  in  the  abattoir,  and  much 
resorted  to.  Extraordinary  cures  are  boasted  from  this  proc- 
ess. I  saw  no  evidence  of  special  success  in  keeping  the 
premises  sweet  and  inoffensive.  Indeed,  the  want  of  abun- 
dant water  in  a  running  state  is  a  great  obtsacle  to  this  re- 
sult. Vienna  is  very  far  from  being  a  sweet-smelling  city. 
The  air  is  loaded  in  parts  of  it  with  the  odors  arising  from 
various  manufactories.  A  large  factory  of  the  albumen  from 
the  blood  of  cattle  is  made  profitable,  and  the  smell  of  this 
valuable  and  necessary  article  taught  me  first  what  that  pe- 
culiar odor  that  belongs  to  new  cloth  came  from.  It  is  ex- 
tensively used  in  dressing  woolens. 

The  currency  in  Austria  has  been  for  nearly  twenty  years 
of  paper.  About  four  hundred  millions  are  afloat ;  all  the 
country  can  bear.  The  national  debt  is  about  three  thou- 
sand million  florins.  It  runs  behindhand  a  hundred  millions 
a  year,  and  borrowing  has  become  almost  impossible.     The 


436  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

currency  varies  from  120  to  125  for  100  in  gold.  After  the 
victory  at  Custozza,  it  went  down  to  107.  But  it  has  gone 
up  again,  and  nobody  sees  any  prospect  of  resuming  specie 
payments.  Prices,  as  with  us,  rise  with  the  rise  of  gold,  but 
do  not  fall  with  its  decline,  as  we  have  seen  in  America. 
Vienna  is  thought  a  very  dear  city  to  live  in  ;  but  it  is  not 
dear  compared  with  New  York,  although  the  people  live 
much  more  closely.  The  Germans  and  Austrians  are  eco- 
nomical in  their  habits,  but  the  Austrians  are  not  thrifty. 
The  women  are  poor  accountants,  and  spend  what  they  have 
on  hand,  and  then  live  small  until  more  comes  in.  There  is 
a  certain  clumsiness  in  all  their  tools,  methods  and  arrange- 
ments ;  a  want  of  practical  adjustment  and  sense  of  propor- 
tion and  fitness.  Their  public  buildings  are  full  of  practical 
errors.  They  commit  capital  faults  in  architecture.  They 
have  placed  their  costly  opera-house  so  low  as  to  impair  seri- 
ously its  appearance  and  convenience.  Their  entrances  and 
exits  are  strangely  complicated,  indirect  and  confused.  It 
requires  great  skill  and  experience  to  get  in  and  out  of  any 
of  their  most  frequented  buildings.  Their  chief  houses  are 
built  with  useless  double  doors  to  all  the  apartments,  fitted 
with  awkward  and  expensive  door-handles,  and  most  uneco- 
nomically  divided  up.  Improvement  in  any  of  their  usages  is 
slow  and  difficult,  and  they  have  a  strange  inaptitude  for  tak- 
ing hints  from  other  countries.  'They  excel,  however,  in  small 
articles  of  leather,  in  optical  instruments,  and  in  working  am- 
ber and  ivory.  There  is  little  emulation  in  mechanical  in- 
dustry. 

Austria  is  made  up  of  so  many  different  peoples  and 
original  independencies,  that  its  unity  is  always  forced  and 
difficult  to  maintain.  There  are  at  least  twenty  provinces, 
speaking  as  many  different  languages  or  dialects.  Their 
Parliament,  which  invites  all  to  representation,  can  not  pre- 


Hungary.  437 

vail  on  the  Czecks  of  Bohemia  to  send  any  members ;  and 
Hungary,  half  the  whole  empire,  insists  upon  its  independ- 
ent parliament,  which  has  been  granted  it  under  the  new  ar- 
rangement. A  third  body  of  representatives  from  the  Aus- 
trian and  the  Hungarian  parliaments  is  now  being  consti- 
tuted, which  will  have  the  regulation  of  their  common  inter- 
ests. A  more  complex  government  than  is  thus  projected 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  Wheels  within  wheels  (some  of 
them  always  on  fire)  fitly  images  this  political  machine,  which 
it  seems  hardly  possible  can  ever  work.  A-nd  yet  Hungary, 
wildly  independent  in  its  temper,  seems  almost  hopelessly 
incompetent  to  self-direction.  The  people  are  free  in  feel- 
ing, and  yet  with  very  little  of  the  democratic  practical  in- 
stincts of  self-government.  The  peasants  are  proud,  idle, 
and  as  impatient  as  princes  of  any  control.  Deak,  the  pop- 
ular leader,  is  often  in  Vienna,  where  he  is  called  to  counsel 
with  the  government.  He  is  unmarried,  and  lives  in  the 
most  democratic  simplicity  at  home  and  when  here.  He 
will  accept  no  office,  but  is  greater  than  all  the  Hungarian 
Ministers  in  influence  and  power.  He  closes  the  debates  at 
Pesth  with  unanswerable  summings-up,  and  carries  his  points 
— which  are  all  for  moderation — with  irresistible  effect.  He 
seems  to  be  one  of  the  purest  and  greatest  of  living  states- 
men. Pulsky,  who  was  in  America  with  Kossuth,  is  now  in 
the  Hungarian  House  of  Deputies,  and  supports  the  Union. 
Kossuth  stands  aloof  in  Turin,  and  agitates  still  for  the  com- 
plete independence  of  Hungary.  Judicious  men  here,  who 
are  republicans  at  heart,  think  Hungary  must  choose  between 
falling  under  the  control  of  Russia  or  adhere  to  Austria.  It 
is  a  still  uncertain  problem. 

The  feeling  of  many  here  is  that  the  dreadful  blow  of 
Sadowa  was  necessary  to  arouse  Austria  to  a  true  sense  of 
her  situation.     They  speak  of  their  defeat  without  bitterness. 


43  8  The  Old  World  hi  its  New  Face. 

Benedek  is  in  disgrace,  but  most  candid  people  seem  to  think 
his  case  misjudged,  and  that  the  fate  of  the  Austrian  army 
was  not  in  his  hands.  Its  bravery  is  not  disputed.  There 
are  no  great  generals  known  to  exist  here,  but  few  doubt 
that  such  will  turn  up  if  occasion  again  calls  for  them.  Mil- 
itary preparations  go  on  as  usual. 

The  new  Minister,  Von  Beust,  whom  I  saw  in  his  seat  in  the 
Vienna  Parliament,  is  an  intellectual-looking  man  of  fifty, 
with  a  very  thoughtful,  quiet  air,  a  good  German  head,  and 
bright  hair  and  complexion.  He  shows  no  impatience  or 
heat,  and  is  clearly  sobered  by  his  situation.  He  is  a  Prot- 
estant and  a  North-German,  and  as  such  in  a  strange  and 
somewhat  unnatural  position.  The  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony, 
who  is  a  great  friend  of  the  Emperor,  recommended  him  to 
the  place  he  now  holds.  He  is  evidently  doing  his  best  to 
bring  Austria  up  to  the  times,  but  he  will  have  hard  driving, 
and  continual  opposition  from  the  hierarchy.  He  evidently 
hopes  to  break  up  the  Concordat,  the  greatest  obstacle  to 
Austrian  freedom.  The  Emperor  seems  with  him,  and  par- 
tially emancipated  from  Catholic  bonds.     May  it  last ! 

There  is  a  great  deal  to  see  in  Vienna  in  the  way  of  pict- 
ures. The  royal  gallerj'  is  a  rare  and  precious  collection, 
specially  rich  in  Italian  pictures  and  in  Rubens  and  Van- 
dykes. The  Lichtenstein  Gallery,  for  a  private  collection,  is 
immense  and  most  interesting  and  instructive,  and  so  is  the 
Ambras  collection.     But  I  have  no  room  to  speak  of  them. 

The  public  monuments  are  numerous ;  but  almost  uniform- 
ly bad,  not  to  say  disgraceful,  in  taste  and  execution.  There 
is  not  one  really  handsome  statue  in  any  public  square  in  the 
old  city.  Joseph  II.  seems  gratefully  and  tenderly  remem- 
bered as  the  largest  and  most  liberal-minded  of  their  sover- 
eigns, always  excepting  his  mother,  Maria  Theresa,  whose 
fame  certainly  does  not  exceed  her  deserts.     Since  Joseph, 


TJie  Royal  Family.  439 

the  sovereigns  have  been  weak-minded.  Ferdinand  was 
proverbially  feeble  ;  Francis,  his  uncle,  not  much  stronger. 
The  present  Emperor  is  a  good-natured,  reserved  man,  full 
of  his  prerogative,  but  of  a  shilly-shallying  disposition  ;  easily 
disheartened  and  easily  recovering  confidence.  He  is  fickle 
and  inconstant,  and  is  said  to  often  contradict  himself  flatly. 
Riding  and  hunting  are  his  chief  solaces.  If  he  imitates  the 
great  sovereigns,  it  is  in  their  follies — such  as  driving  across 
his  empire  post-haste  in  a  shorter  time  than  any  monarch 
had  ever  done  before.  His  wife  is  the  most  beautiful  woman 
in  her  court,  but  is  somewhat  masculine  in  her  tastes  for 
horses  and  dogs,  and  not  of  a  serious  turn  except  as  it  re- 
spects the  authority  of  the  priests.  Maximilian  had  more 
sense  and  energy  than  his  brother,  but  was  selfish  and  am- 
bitious, and  has  not  as  good  a  name  at  home  as  he  enjoys 
abroad.  The  other  brothers  are  commonplace  and  ill-look- 
ing. The  Parliament  is  a  dignified  body  in  appearance,  and 
seems  to  have  a  Greek  priest  and  a  Roman  priest  among  its 
Deputies. 

St.  Stephen's  Church,  now  under  repairs,  is  a  magnificent 
structure,  with  an  exquisite  tower  of  the  most  shapely  propor- 
tions and  delicate  traceries.  It  is  gloomy  beyond  expression 
within,  and  so  obstructed  with  columns  and  stagings  that  it 
produces  less  effect  than  one  anticipates.  The  other  church- 
es are  not  striking.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  external  gilding 
about  some  of  the  modern  buildings,  which  gives  a  hint  of 
the  Orient.  The  Danube  is  here  not  impressive,  and  plays 
no  important  part  in  the  aspect  of  the  city.  Several  bridges 
— one  with  a  set  of  new  statues  uncovered  only  yesterday — 
cross  the  canal,  and  give  variety  to  the  street  views.  But  on 
the  whole  Vienna  is  not  as  impressive  a  capital  as  Berlin.  I 
must  leave  a  few  paragraphs  about  the  new  city  to  my  next 
letter. 


XXXIV. 

VIENNA     AND     TRIESTE. 

Austria,  November  24,  1867. 

'"pHEnew  city  of  Vienna  promises  to  make  up  in  due  time 
for  the  deficiencies  of  the  old  town  in  sightliness,  ex- 
panse and  splendor.  Already  it  is  brilliant  with  ornamental 
buildings,  and  liberal  in  squares,  which  are  adorned  with  fresh 
equestrian  statues  of  a  costly  character.  Prince  Eugene,  the 
Archduke  Charles,  and  Schwarzenberg,  are  worthily  com- 
memorated in  recent  monuments  of  this  kind,  erected  by  the 
present  Emperor.  A  few  years  will  enable  "  The  Ring  "  to 
rival  the  Boulevards  of  Paris  with  more  success  thary  any 
other  city.  The  eight  statues  on  the  bridge,  uncovered  only 
day  before  yesterday,  are  exceedingly  pleasing,  especially  one 
of  a  reigning  Bishop,  whose  name  slips  my  memory. 

To-day  a  new  store  is  opened  at  the  most  commanding 
business  point  in  the  city,  which  aims  to  be  the  "  Stewart's  " 
of  Vienna.  It  has  cost  over  a  half-million  of  florins,  and  is 
built  in  a  very  showy  style,  on  an  irregular  lot,  where  land  was 
worth  three  hundred  florins  by  the  eight  feet  square.  Yes- 
terday the  Emperor  and  Empress  visited  this  establishment. 
I  went  over  it  to-day.  It  compares  very  poorly  in  extent  or 
splendor,  in  stock  of  goods  or  in  convenience  of  arrangement, 
with  very  many  American  "  stores,"  but  it  is  thought  a  miracle 
of  enterprise  here.  Crowds  hang  about  the  windows,  and 
policemen  guard  the  doors.  The  house  has  six  factories  at 
work  on  carpets,  upholstery  and  furniture ;  one  in  Bradford, 


Antiquities  and  Tombs.  441 

England.  It  deals  almost  exclusively  in  Austrian  goods.  It 
means  to  sell  better  goods  at  lower  prices,  and  so  command 
an  extensive  market.  It  gives  six  months'  credit  to  substan- 
tial customers.  It  is  a  sign  of  progress  of  an  encouraging 
kind  in  this  slow  community.  May  good  success  wait  on 
"  Philipp  Hass  &  Sohne,  Grabengasse,  No.  32,  Vienna  !" 

We  visited  the  Ambras  collection  this  morning,  which  is 
justly  celebrated  for  its  old  armor ;  but  it  should  be  seen  be- 
fore the  Dresden  collection  to  be  greatly  enjoyed.  The  pos- 
itive connection  of  the  suits  of  armor  with  actual  historical 
personages  gives  them  a  great  additional  interest.  Philip  II. 
and  Alva  are  both  brought  vividly  to  mind  by  the  very  mail 
they  cased  their  bigoted  and  cruel  hearts  in.  A  collection 
of  portraits  of  apparent  authenticity  is  of  still  greater  interest. 
One  of  Mary  Stuart  and  another  of  Queen  Elizabeth  hang 
side  by  side  very  harmoniously,  which  is  perhaps  accounted 
for  by  the  diminished  beauty  the  artist  has  given  the  Scottish 
Queen,  and  the  diminished  homeliness  he  has  bestowed  on 
the  English.  Some  very  rare  Egyptian  mumm3r-cases,  of  stone, 
are  found  in  this  collection  ;  and  some  curious  relics  of  Mon- 
tezuma, and  of  Turkish  sultans.  The  ends  of  the  earth  have 
been  most  industriously  compassed  for  the  traces  of  all  dis- 
tinguished princes  and  warriors,  who  seem  to  be  the  only  per- 
sons held  worthy  of  commemoration  in  these  Austrian  mu- 
seums. 

One  place  in  Vienna  has  a  profound  interest.  It  is  the 
vault  of  the  Capuchin  monaster}^,  in  which  are  collected  the 
ashes  of  a  hundred  and  one  imperial  and  princely  persons — 
emperors  and  their  wives  and  children,  and  brothers  and 
sisters  with  their  children,  a  few  princely  bishops  and  one  plain 
countess — Maria  Theresa's  governess  and  friend.  The  old- 
est sarcophagus  (they  are  all  of  bronze)  is  of  the  wife  of  King 
Matthias,  the  founder  of  the  monastery ;  the  newest  contains 

T  2 


442  llic  Old  IVor/d  in  ifs  A^cio  Face. 

the  remains  of  the  King's  sister,  who  was  accidentally  burned 
to  death  only  last  summer.  It  was  still  loaded  with  garlands. 
Maria  Theresa,  with  her  husband,  lies  here  on  a  most  costly 
but  ugly  tomb,  near  the  very  spot  where,  for  so  many  years, 
she  spent  an  allotted  hour,  once  every  week,  with  the  ashes 
of  her  beloved  Francis.  Her  sixteen  children  are  gathered 
about  her,  and  at  her  feet,  in  the  plainest  coffin  in  the  vault, 
sleeps  the  son,  Joseph  II.,  who  had  so  much  of  his  mother's 
genius  and  nobleness,  and  who  left  orders  to  be  thus  unos- 
tentatiously buried  at  her  feet.  The  great  vault  where  all  this 
imperial  dust  sleeps,  is  a  simple,  unadorned  and  almost  un- 
safe place,  approached  by  a  narrow  and  unconspicuous  pas- 
sage through  the  monastery,  and  guarded  by  a  little  friar  who, 
with  a  poor  lantern,  guides  you  through  the  extended  circuit 
of  brazen  coffins.  One  half  wonders  that  some  unscrupulous 
adventurer  has  not  profaned  this  sanctuary  and  stolen  a  hand- 
ful of  this  precious  dust !  What  would  not  Napoleon  do  to 
redeem  the  body  of  the  young  Duke  of  Reichstadt,  who  %till 
lies  by  his  mother's  side  in  this  family  sepulchre  ? 

The  monument,  by  Canova,  to  the  Archduchess  Christina, 
is  next  in  interest  to  his  beautiful  work  in  St.  Peter's,  the 
tomb  of  a  Pope.  But  Murray  describes  it  so  well  that  I  will 
not  attempt  to  commemorate  it.  It  is  in  the  Church  of  the 
Augustines,  where  the  "  hearts "  of  the  Austrian  Emperors 
are  buried.  Their  entrails  are  buried  in  still  another  church. 
I  hope  there  is  nothing  ominously  significant  of  Austrian 
policy. and  destiny  in  this  strange  partition  of  the  imperial 
remains. 

The  city  government  erected,  last  year,  a  kursaal,  or  pump- 
room,  in  the  small  park  on  the  Ring,  which  cost  360,000 
florins — a  mere  place  of  morning  resort  for  summer  idlers 
not  able  to  visit  the  watering-places.  Mineral  waters  are 
sold  here,  freshly  furnished  from  all  the  popular  wells  on  the 


Costs  of  Building.  443 

Continent.  It  is  a  costly  bauble,  and  shows  that  it  is  not 
New  York  Common  Councils  alone  that  know  how  to  squan- 
der the  public  money.  The  relative  cost  of  building  in  Vi- 
enna and  New  York  may  be  partly  inferred  from  the  follow- 
ing figures  : 

Cost  of  the  Abattoir,  976,500  florins.  ^ 

Orphan  House  for  Boys,  82,535       ';       \    Without  the 

"  "      for  Gals,  54,400       "       \        ,      , 

Kursaal,  '  360,000       "       \         '^"°- 

New  Almshouse,  570,000       "      ) 

I  can  only  say  that  at  the  present  rate  of  labor  and  ma- 
terials in  New  York,  I  do  not  believe  any  one  of  these  build- 
ings could  have  been  erected  for  less  than  twice  the  amount 
they  cost  here. 

The  Emperor  is  building  a  beautiful  Gothic  church,  which 
already  shows  that  it  will  be  among  the  finest  modern  eccle- 
siastical structures.  Stone  seems  abundant,  but  brick  and 
stucco  are  chiefly  used,  and  brick  is  very  skillfully  and  archi- 
tecturally employed.  No  finer  modern  use  of  it  is  to  be 
found  ttian  in  the  Gymnasium  here.  The  stone  galleries  of 
the  interior  of  this  building  are  among  the  finest  modern 
triumphs  of  architecture. 

Trieste,  Adriatic,  November  27. 

We  left  Vienna  just  as  a  glorious  sunrise  was  ushering  in 
what  gave  every  promise  of  being  a  bright  autumn  day,  such 
as  that  leaden  sky  seldom  looks  down  upon  !  The  Alps  send 
a  low  spur  of  the  Noric  range  almost  to  the  gates  of  Vienna, 
and  in  its  valleys  are  hid  away  many  villas  and  shady  ham- 
lets, to  which  the  citizens  fly  in  the  hot  months  to  get  out 
of  the  unwholesome  breath  of  the  city.  The  railroad  over 
the  Semmering  rises  after  a  few  miles,  by  very  sharp  grades, 
and  brings  you  in  two  hours  from  Vienna  into  the  heart  of 
a  wild  mountain  district.     You  are  surprised  to  find  yourself, 


444  ^^''^'  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

sooner  than  from  any  other  great  capital,  in  the  midst  of  Al- 
pine scenery.  But  we  were  favored  with  another  surprise  ! 
The  train  took  us  from  fair  weather  and  bright  sunshine 
into  the  heart  of  a  violent  snow-storm,  which  had  been  raging 
all  night  in  the  mountains,  and  three  hours  from  Vienna  we 
found  a  foot  of  snow  :  trees  bending  under  its  weight,  snow- 
ploughs  necessary  to  our  progress,  and  the  people  out  break- 
ing the  high-roads  with  heavy  teams  of*oxen  and  sledges. 
Winter  in  true  New  England  severity  was  all  around  us,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  it  had  been  there  for  months.  Five  hours 
more  carried  us  over  the  summit — about  three  hundred  feet 
high  — -  and  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Froschnitz,  into  Styria, 
where,  by  noon,  we  left  the  storm  and  the  snow  behind 
us,  and  through  fields  trying  to  smile  and  looking  green  in 
warm  spots,  we  came  out  into  bright  sunshine  and  clear  cold 
weather  again,  and  found  in  the  deep  blue  sky  some  evidence 
that  we  were  already  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Alps.  The 
scenery  on  this  route  is  picturesque  in  the  extreme,  a4td  it 
never  loses  interest  all  the  way  to  Trieste.  We  looked  for  a 
dull  railroad  ride  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  such  as 
we  had  made  between  Frankfort  and  Hamburg,  and  Ham- 
burg and  Vienna,  but  every  mile  of  the  way  was  charming, 
and  wanted  only  summer  greenness  to  be  enchanting.  No 
more  wonderful  engineering  is  to  be  seen  in  Europe  than 
that  on  the  rail-track  over  the  Alps  at  Semmering ;  and  be- 
tween Gratz  and  Adelsberg,  the  Drave  and  Sau,  or  Save, 
present  a  constant  succession  of  picturesque  gorges  or  open- 
ings upon  which  ruins  and  churches  and  castles  look  down. 
Gratz  is  celebrated  for  its  situation,  and  appears  to  be  the 
home  of  many  retired  families  of  wealth.  Liveried  equipages 
were  waiting  at  the  station  for  returning  travelers.  Already 
a  certain  tinge  of  the  ostentatiousness  of  the  Danubian  states 
of  Europe  is  apparent  in  the  dress  of  the  people.     Bright 


The  Under-world.  445 

colors  and  heavy  furs  and  sweeping  cloaks,  and  extensive 
appurtenances  for  comfort  appear,  and  the  travelers  seem  to 
be  almost  exclusively  (in  the  express  trains)  people  of  for- 
tune. 

We  reached  Adelsberg,  sixt)'  miles  short  of  Trieste,  after 
twelve  hours'  steady  journeying  in  the  cars,  and  were  soon 
established  in  "The  Golden  Crown."  The  next  morning  we 
started  off  on  foot,  with  seven  guides  and  lighters,  to  visit 
the  celebrated  "  Grotto  of  Adelsberg,"  generally  considered 
the  finest  cave  in  Europe.  The  country  is  a  porous  lime- 
stone region,  broken  by  abrupt  hills  and  mountains,  nearly 
bare  of  trees.  It  is  swept  by  violent  winds  and  badly  water- 
ed, and  the  only  lake  in  the  neighborhood  has  the  bad  trick 
of  disappearing  wholly  at  capricious  seasons,  and  then  sud- 
denly coming  back  before  the  peasants  can  get  the  small 
harvests  they  \rj  to  make  in  its  bed  safely  out  of  the  fields. 
It  is  now  understood  that  the  lake  is  drawn  off  under  me- 
teorological conditions  into  vast  subterranean  reservoirs 
beneath  the  mountains,  and  when  the  rains  have  filled 
them  up,  the  waters  overflow  into  the  lake,  through  spouts 
that  are  visible  and  may  be  descended  when  the  lake  is 
empty. 

The  entrance  to  the  cave  is  by  a  natural  mouth  in  the 
side  of  a  precipice  about  a  mile  from  the  village.  The  cave 
is  state  property,  and  is  closed  with  an  iron  gate  and  pro- 
tected by  a  government  official  who  has  an  office  in  the  vil- 
lage, where  tickets  of  admission,  with  specifications  of  the 
number  of  guides  and  lighters  and  candles  wanted,  must  be 
obtained,  and  paid  for  in  advance.  There  is  a  regular  tariff 
of  charges,  and  you  may  order  either  a  small,  a  moderate,  or 
a  grand  illumination.  Being  four  in  company,  we  thought 
ourselves  entitled  to  a  grand  illumination,  although  we  had 
very  little  notion  of  what  that  meant.     Paying  down  the  re- 


446  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

quired  fee  of  seventeen  florins  and  a  half  (about  $io),  we 
started  for  the  cave,  accompanied  by  a  man  in  shiny  leather, 
who  looked  as  if  he  might  have  been  used  as  a  swab  in  a 
cannon,  by  the  smoke  and  grime  and  grease  of  his  polished 
skin.  After  waiting  fifteen  minutes  at  the  mouth  of  this  in- 
hospitable Hades  (and  a  very  cold  one,  too  !)  Pluto  appear- 
ed at  the  other  side  of  the  gate  and  turned  the  lock  to  re- 
ceive us.  Meanwhile,  a  short  procession  of  amiable  demons 
with  torches  filed  by,  in  the  depths  of  the  cavern,  evidently 
bent  upon  lighting  our  way ;  and,  as  we  soon  found,  most 
necessary  and  well-behaved  spirits  they  were,  who  did  an 
amount  of  work  for  us  in  the  next  two  hours  which  only  in- 
cessant practice  could  have  enabled  them  to  perform  so 
adroitly  and  with  so  little  show  of  trouble.  The  road  down 
into  the  cave  was  as  smooth  and  well  made  as  if  it  had  been 
on  the  surface.  It  was  wide,  free  from  mud  or  obstructions, 
provided  with  stone  steps  wherever  the  descent  was  sudden, 
bridged  over  chasms,  railed  in  at  points  of  danger,  wAked 
into  the  sides  of  stone  ledges  when  necessary,  and  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  make  a  circuit  of  all  the  points  of  interest  with- 
out often  retracing  the  steps.  A  more  considerate  and  judi- 
cious ordering  of  the  whole  show  could  not  be  desired.  Our 
provision  for  lighting  up  consisted  of  i6o  candles,  with  five 
lighters,  and  two  kept  with  us  besides  the  chief  showman,  who 
talked  intelligible  English.  The  lighters  preceded  us,  and, 
in  sconces  ready  fixed,  placed  the  candles  in  the  chief  cham- 
bers, of  which  in  turn  six  or  seven  were  illuminated.  All 
the  lights  were  used  in  each  chamber,  the  skillful  hands 
managing,  while  we  were  detained  examining  details  in  the 
passages  from  one  to  the  other,  to  hurry  on  and  transfer  the 
candles  from  one  hall  to  the  next  in  order.  The  Poik,  a 
river  of  ten  rods  width  and  a  few  feet  in  depth,  enters  the 
cave,  near  where  the  visitor  comes  in,  and  is  crossed  sixty 


Marvellous  Spectacle.  44y 

feet  below  the  surface,  a  few  rods  from  the  mouth  of  the 
grotto.  It  rushes  across  the  floor  of  the  "  Great  Dome,"  un- 
seen but  with  a  mysterious  voice,  and  is  crossed  by  a  bridge, 
from  which  this  grand  chamber,  duly  illuminated,  seventy- 
two  feet  high  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  broad,  is  fine- 
ly commanded.  Either  our  eyes  had  not  become  accustom- 
ed to  the  lamp-light  effects,  so  that  we  did  not  discern  the 
color  of  the  walls,  or  else  the  external  air  had  affected 
the  freshness  of  the  surface,  for  we  saw  here  nothing  but  a 
brown  cave,  very  grand  and  impressive,  but  with  little  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  any  other  rocky  cavern.  But  as  we  advanced 
the  peculiar  brightness  of  the  limestone  became  more  and 
more  lustrous,  the  walls  growing  whiter  and  whiter  every  rod, 
and  the  crystallization  more  perfect. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of 
the  effect  that  seemed  ever  multiplying  and  heightening  about 
us  as  we  advanced.  The  stalactites  hung  from  the  lofty 
walls,  now  in  blunt  masses  ten  feet  in  thickness  and  now  in 
tender  spikes,  tapering  twenty  or  thirty  feet  to  a  point.  From 
the  floor  rose  stalagmites  of  similar  proportions  and  variety. 
Sometimes  these  met  each  other  in  hour-glass  forms,  and 
sometimes  formed  vast  columns  that  seemed  to  support  the 
roof  Here  cathedral  effects  appeared  as  if  the  pillars  of  a 
hundred  churches  of  all  schools  of  architecture  had  been  rob- 
bed to  furnish  one  great  temple.  Sometimes  I  fancied  I  saw 
the  roof  of  the  Milan  Duomo,  with  its  three  thousand  statues 
turned  upside  down  and  hanging  above  us  ;  and  here  I  look- 
ed down  upon  a  city  with  a  hundred  spires  and  towers,  seen 
from  a  distant  height  by  torch-light !  Again,  a  vast  grave-yard 
crowded  with  regal  sepulchres  broke  upon  the  view.  Here 
shrines  and  chapels,  with  sculptured  images ;  there  great  or- 
gans with  pipes  of  the  utmost  regularity ;  sleeping  lions  and 
fawns  ;  busts  and  uncouth  mythological  figures ;  carved  pul- 


448  The  Old  World  iti  its  Ne7v  Face. 

pits ;  flowing  draperies,  as  if  a  flight  of  Titanic  angels  were 
just  disappearing,  but  trailed  their  sweeping  garments  as  they 
rose  into  the  gloom.  The  grace,  elegance,  artificial  regulari- 
ty and  exquisite  purity  of  these  forms  charmed  us  one  mo- 
ment ;  the  grotesqueness,  novelty  and  grandeur  the  next.  In 
one  chamber  Nature  seemed  in  a  rustic  mood,  and  palms  and 
firs  and  vegetable  forms — the  banyan  and  tropical  or  Norwe- 
gian plants — furnished  her  models ;  in  another  she  was  in  a 
-Gothic  humor,  and  piled  up  arches  and  windows  and  pillars, 
and  hung  them  with  a  tracery  no  architect  could  have  copied. 
The  fluting  of  some  of  these  columns  was  exquisite  !  Again, 
cushions  on  cushions  of  various  sizes  seemed  heaped  upon 
each  other,  like  pillars  of  shining  satin  turned  to  stone.  Over 
these  forms  the  trickling  moisture  poured  its  ever  fresh  var- 
nish, and  the  sparkling  crystals  twinkled  and  flashed  like 
diamonds.  The  exquisite  whiteness  of  some  of  the  figures 
was  beyond  that  of  Parian  marble.  .But  this  brightness  was 
contrasted  here  and  there  with  reddish  tints  and  sometimes 
with  yellow  hues.  Shawls  and  veils,  wrought  with  fringes 
and  borders  through  which  the  light  of  the  torches  came  free- 
ly, hung  in  folds  that  a  modiste  could  not  have  improved. 
Delicate  curtains,  thin  as  window-glass,  drooped  over  our  path. 
We  walked  for  two  hours  through  this  palace,  aching  with 
wonder  and  delight,  now  awed  by  black  shadows  and  Egyp- 
tian sphinxes,  and  vaulted  darkness  and  solemn  echoes,  and 
the  mysterious  dripping  of  unseen  rain ;  and  then  ravished 
with  the  beauty  and  brilliancy  and  the  convolutions  of  forms 
that  were  neither  in  the  likeness  of  any  thing  in  heaven  or 
earth,  but  half  of  both.  There  was  no  gaudiness  in  the  dis- 
play, no  prismatic  colors  and  no  bold  crystallization  ;  but  the 
total  effect  was  lovely  and  perfect,  or  grand  and  subduing. 
When  we  reached  the  Calvarenberg,  two  miles  from  the 
mouth,  we  sang  in  quartette  some  familiar  hymns,  with  the 


All  Tongues  in    Trieste.  449 

echoes  for  our  orchestra,  and  with  a  solemn  and  worshipful 
feeling  of  which  we  shall  never  lose  the  grateful  memory. 

It  may  be  added,  for  the  encouragement  of  visitors,  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  winter  temperature  of  the  cave  to  ex- 
pose even  a  woman's  health.  The  thermometer  stood  at 
about  fifty,  and  it  was  a  relief  to  come  in  and  out  of  the  ex- 
ternal cold  into  this  equable  climate.  We  found  the  path 
nearly  dry  everj-where  ;  the  dripping  did  not  touch  us,  and 
there  was  no  soil  upon  our  garments  when  we  came  out. 
The  changes  in  the  cave,  which  are  always  going  slowly  for- 
ward, are  so  gentle  that  the  showman  remembered  in  thirty- 
five  years  none  to  be  observed.  In  all  that  time  not  a  stone 
had  fallen.  There  is,  therefore,  no  safer  place  to  visit.  It 
is  wonderful  to  see  what  the  simple  law  of  gravitation,  work- 
ing with  water  and  limestone,  has  effected  in  this  palace  of 
loveliness.  No  matter  what  exalted  expectations  the  visitor 
may  carry  in,  he  will  surely  come  out  exclaiming,  "  One-half 
was  not  told  me  !" 

Trieste,  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of  the  same  name  in  the 
Adriatic,  owes  its  present  importance  to  the  Emperor  Charles 
VI.,  who  made  it  a  free  port,  and  to  Maria  Theresa,  who  cher- 
ished it.  It  is  now  the  only  important  port  Austria  possess- 
es in  the  Mediterranean  waters  except  Fiume,  about  seventy 
miles  east,  across  the  peninsula.  The  two  places  will  ulti- 
mately be  united  by  a  railroad.  Trieste  has  now  about  a 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  Italian  is  the  language  most 
commonly  spoken,  although  all  tongues  are  heard  here.  A 
great  variety  of  costumes  is  seen  in  the  streets,  the  fez  and 
the  sash,  the  Turkish  trowser  and  the  gay  frogged  tunic  with 
red  waistcoat,  with  ornamental  slippers  or  long  boots  ;  and 
still  more  of  the  ordinary  European  dress.  The  women  are 
coarse  and  weather-beaten,  and  without  any  special  pictur- 
esqueness  of  costume.     They  carrj'  all  the  waters  from  the 


45°  The  Old  World  in  its  Nezv  Face. 

public  fountains,  balanced  in  heavy  tubs,  upon  their  heads. 
Sailors  sing  and  shout  in  the  streets,  and  many  bare-legged 
and  half-clothed  men  are  always  at  work  on  the  piers.  The 
wharves  are  of  solid  stone  and  great  beauty,  and  exhibit  a 
marked  contrast  with  the  rickety  wooden  structures  that 
bear  that  name  in  New  York.  The  streets  of  the  new  town 
are  beautifully  paved  with  stones  of  six  or  eight  inches  in 
thickness,  and  of  the  size  of  the  flags  on  our  sidewalks. 
They  form  the  smoothest  and  clearest  surface  I  have  any- 
where met  in  streets.  Being  of  limestone,  they  do  not  ap- 
pear to  slip  under  the  horses'  feet,  in  spite  of  their  nearly 
perfect  smoothness.  The  buildings  in  the  new  town,  which 
is  built  on  a  plain  between  the  old  city  and  the  mountains 
that  so  steeply  hem  in  Trieste,  are  modern  and  substantial ; 
the  new  exchange  and  the  theatre  are  even  elegant.  A  canal 
runs  up  into  the  heart  of  the  new  town,  permitting  small  ves- 
sels to  come  to  the  doors  of  the  warehouses.  Hundreds  of 
vessels,  generally  small,  lie  within  the  inner  or  outer  piers. 
They  are  somewhat  crowded,  and  the  accommodation  is  clear- 
ly insufficient.  There  is  really  no  natural  harbor  here,  only 
a  fine  roadstead — but  art  has  furnished  a  tolerable  harbor, 
which  may  be  much  farther  improved.  If  Austria  holds  to- 
gether, it  will  be  worth  her  utmost  pains  to  make  Trieste  a 
safe  and  large  harbor  as  well  as  a  free  port.  The  trade  of 
Hungary  and  of  all  Austria  south  of  the  Alps,  not  to  say 
much  Italian  and  German  trade,  may,  by  a  judicious  system 
of  railroads,  be  concentrated  on  this  port.  Already  a  very 
large  trade  is  carried  on  here  with  all  parts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, Great  Britain,  South  America,  and  especially  the  Le- 
vant. Great  quantities  of  wheat  are  sent  to  Buenos  Ayres. 
Wheat,  lumber,  ship-timber,  oil-cake,  olive-oil,  figs,  raisins, 
currants,  and  other  dried  fruits,  form  the  principal  exports. 
The  old  town,  built  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  is  a  curious  collec- 


Tombs  and  Candles.  451 

tion  of  stone  streets,  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  they  creep  up 
toward  the  citadel  and  cathedral,  walled  on  either  side,  so 
•that  you  might  as  well  be  in  a  tunnel  so  far  as  any  view  is 
concerned. 

The  cathedral  is  a  very  ancient  building,  externally  ugly, 
but  with  an  impressive  interior  on  account  of  its  simplicity 
and  its  five-pillared  aisles.  There  are  some  curious  old  mo- 
saics in  the  recesses  that  terminate  the  aisles,  which  date 
from  the  fourteenth  century.  Don  Carlos,  ex-king  of  Spain, 
with  his  wife  and  son,  are  buried  here  in  a  very  simple  way. 
The  great  antiquarian,  Winckelmann,  is  buried  in  the  adjoin- 
ing cemetery,  where  a  tomb  erected  by  the  subscriptions  of 
many  kings  and  princes,  and  many  citizens  of  Trieste,  cele- 
brates his  genius  and  guards  his  memory.  On  the  face  of  it 
his  figure  carrying  a  torch,  the  light  of  which  falls  on  an 
Egyptian  enigma  and  some  Roman  or  Greek  mystery,  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  Muses  and  the  Arts,  whom  he  is  conducting  to 
new  triumphs.  Around  the  tomb  are  gathered  fragments  of 
classical  antiquity — slabs  with  inscriptions,  bits  of  columns 
and  other  ver}'  ancient  remains,  laid  there  from  time  to  time, 
as  if  waiting  for  the  great  antiquary's  attention,  or  as  tributes 
to  his  taste  and  learning.  There  are  fine  views  to  be  had 
from  the  citadel  and  the  terrace  before  the  cathedral.  Two 
Greek  churches  (one  of  them  a  very  costly  one,  which  is  slow- 
ly approaching  completion)  show  the  influence  of  Oriental 
Christianity  upon  this  community.  There  are  many  Greek 
merchants  in  town.  The  funeral  of  a  lady  took  place  in  the 
Greek  church  the  morning  after  our  arrival.  At  least  fifty 
persons,  each  with  a  burning  candle  of  the  size  of  a  hoe-han- 
dle, stood  round  her  coffin.  It  is  astonishing  what  virtue  is 
attached  in  Catholic  and  Eastern  Europe  to  wax  and  tallow ! 
So  many  pounds  of  it,  burned  at  a  festival  or  a  funeral,  are 
indispensable  to  any  proper  expression  of  joy  or  grief! 


452  The  Old  World  />/  its  New  Face. 

No  American  merchants  are  here.  I  heard  indeed  of  no 
American  citizens  excepting  our  accompHshed  Consul,  Mr. 
A.  W.  Thayer,  and  two  ladies,  American  born,  wedded  to  En-» 
glish  merchants.  Mr.  Thayer  is  still  engaged  upon  his  life- 
work,  an  exhaustive  biography  of  Beethoven.  The  first  vol- 
ume has  already  appeared  in  German,  and  has  been  wel- 
comed with  enthusiasm  by  competent  critics  in  Europe  as 
the  first  reliable  history  of  this  wonderful  genius.  The  two 
remaining  volumes  will  follow  just  as  fast  as  Mr.  Thayer's 
scrupulous  exactness  will  allow  him  to  prepare  them ;  and  I 
fear  that  will  not  be  under  two  or  three  years.  Mr.  Thayer's 
numerous  friends  of  the  press,  and  musical  and  literary  com- 
panions, will  be  glad  to  hear  that  his  health  is  improved 
since  a  very  serious  illness  of  some  months  ago,  and  that  his 
duties  here,  which  are  not  small,  are  fulfilled  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all  his  countrymen.  His  musical  scholarship  sur- 
prised and  delighted  me — but  not  more  than  his  patriotism 
and  his  enthusiasm  about  his  old  Harvard  College  friends. 

Three  miles  from  Trieste,  on  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic  . 
which  it  overhangs,  is  the  exquisite  villa  of  the  late  unhappy 
Maximilian,  styled  Emperor  of  Mexico.  Miramar  is  well 
named  from  its  superb  sea-view.  The  snowy  summits  of  the 
coast-range  of  the  western  shore  of  the  Adriatic  are  in  dis- 
tant sight.  Behind  the  villa  rise  terraced  slopes  of  wine- 
growing hills,  half-tropical  in  their  aspects ;  before  the  sea- 
wall spreads  out  the  lovely  gulf,  its  shallows  purple,  changing 
into  blue  as  the  waters  deepen,  while  to-day  white-caps  and 
drifting  sand,  with  a  wind  that  sometimes  smooths  the  sea  in 
spots  as  with  oil,  diversify  the  prospect.  At  the  left  Trieste 
is  in  full  view,  with  its  piers  glistening,  its  citadel  and  its 
hills  sprinkled  with  villas,  and  above  all  its  numerous  masts. 
The  villa  is  an  elegant  Italian  mansion,  large  enough  for  dig- 
nity and  not  too  large  for  domestic  comfort.     It  is  djrectly 


Miraviar  and  Alaximilian.  453 

over  the  sea,  and  has  for  a  summer  residence  perfect  fitness. 
The  grounds  behind  it,  within  thirty  or  forty  acres,  contain 
more  variety  and  elegance  of  arrangement  than  I  have  yet 
seen  combined  within  so  small  a  space.  There  is  hardly 
any  thing  wanting  in  the  way  of  winter  or  summer  gardens, 
sheltered  retreats,  shaded  alleys,  fountains  and  fish-ponds, 
staircases  mounting  to  new  levels  ;  water-gates,  reached  by 
broad  stairs ;  flights  up  successive  terraces  to  Belvederes, 
and  surprises  of  caves  and  arbors,  prepared  against  every 
temperature  of  summer  heats  or  winter  colds.  To  these  add 
statues  and  ornamental  trees,  the  choicest  evergreens  and 
the  richest  flowers  in  hot-houses,  and  in  the  open  gardens. 
.Even  in  this  cold  November  day,  roses  are  blooming  in  the 
open  air  and  the  atmosphere  is  full  of  perfume.  A  most 
delicate  taste  has  presided  over  these  grounds.  The  very 
vines  and  plants  seemed  to  us  specially  refined  and  lady- 
like. No  coarse  creepers  or  large  vines  are  seen,  but  only 
the  most  exquisite  and  dainty  ones.  An  inscription  tells  the 
visitors  that  "  The  plants  in  this  garden  are  committed  to  the 
protection  of  the  public."  It  is  a  fine  feature  of  Austrian 
hospitality  that  the  gardens  of  the  nobility  are  uniformly  and 
freely  open  to  the  people,  who  make  a  great  use  of  them. 
Maximilian,  whose  remains  are  weekly  expected  at  this  port, 
was  for  a  considerable  time  the  commanding  admiral  in  the 
Austrian  navy.  He  first  went  to  sea  in  the  Novara — the  ship 
that  now  bears  home  his  ashes — and  subsequently  circumnav- 
igated the  globe  in  her  and  published  some  record  of  his 
travels.  He  was  popular  and  beloved  in  Trieste,  for  his 
kindness  to  the  people  and  his  interest  in  the  improvement 
of  the  harbor  and  town.  I  notice  a  public  subscription  open 
in  the  exchange,  for  a  monument  to  his  memory.  It  was 
saddening  to  walk  in  the  alleys  and  to  sit  in  the  summer- 
houses  where  he  and  the  Archduchess  must  so  often  have 


454  ^^^'  Old  World  in  its  New  Face. 

been  happy  together,  and  to  think  that  while  he  was  wrecked 
in  fortunes  and  she  in  reason — while  the  husband  was  float- 
ing in  his  coffin  toward  this  beautiful  shore,  to  find  here  a 
grave,  and  the  wife  was  worse  than  dead,  a  widow  without 
knowing  it,  a  discrowned  empress  and  a  witless  woman — 
Miramar  smiles  as  if  unconscious  of  its  master's  or  mis- 
tress's fate  !  What  a  heaven  on  earth  ambition  has  closed 
upon  those  hapless  princes  ! 


END    OF    VOL.    I. 


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